Quincy High School

The new Quincy High School is part of a civic renaissance in a post-industrial, working-class Northeastern city. The design reacts to the old building’s separation of academic and CTE (career and technical education) programs by combining them into one a cohesive facility. With project-based learning across all disciplines, Quincy’s students can build invaluable life skills that will ease their path into a career or university program.

The original Quincy High School was failing. The separation of its CTE and academic programs created two separate and unequal social groups.

Locals viewed QHS as the “trade” school compared to North Quincy High School, which was the more elite college-preparatory school. It also had a combative relationship with its residential neighbors on one side and a struggling downtown on the other. Additionally, the adjacent wetlands and a coastal flood plain complicated any architectural or urban design interventions.

In an evolving American economy, the notion of the simple vocational/technical school was becoming outdated. Instead, it has become imperative for students to maintain a balance of social, academic, and vocational skills that will allow them to be competitive, regardless of their career path.

The dramatically redesigned Quincy High School achieves this goal through a combination of conceptually powerful “academies,” with a layout and design that not only supports the new educational mission but is a resource for the community as well.

Bridging the Gap

The school has been located at the heart of the city’s downtown, on a site with limited buildable area since 1924. The school was originally designed with a building for academic courses and a separate structure for vocational courses, the two separated by a heavily trafficked roadway linked only by an overhead pedestrian bridge. This separation resulted in both a physical and social fracture, worsening the divide between academic and technical learning, and undermining any natural interaction among academic and technical students and staff. The new school transforms the road that once divided the campus into a courtyard designed to connect students, faculty, and staff.

Ready for Change

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Quincy High School leadership developed new goals emphasizing interdisciplinary learning and combining theoretical and hands-on concepts. For example, students of science, physics, and metal fabrication to collaborate on robotics projects. While effective, a full redirection of focus toward a unified academic/vocational program was continually stymied by the layout and condition of the buildings and campus.

After a school-wide facilities assessment, Quincy High was designated for renovation or replacement. The City embarked on extended facility, site, and educational planning evaluation over the course of seven years. The evaluation culminated in a set of guidelines that would allow the new school design to facilitate academic integration and realize Quincy’s vision for a modern educational model.

Complete Collaboration

The Quincy High School administration, superintendent, and educational programmer/architect incorporated a decade of public discussions and decisions from the City’s past initiatives as well as priorities from the faculty’s new education program, and the City’s stipulation that the school remain at its downtown location. The concept of a “series of academies,” blurring the lines between academic and vocational/technical study emerged as a result of the collaboration between school officials and SMMA’s team.

The new school both is a catalyst for civic renewal and a place to reinvent the educational model.

The design hinges on a series of “Academies of Excellence”. These include Academies for STEM, the Humanities, Fine Arts, and a Freshman Academy.

By strategically locating these spaces, the design fosters interaction among both students and faculty while forging cross-disciplinary relationships. One example is the placement of public spaces like the gymnasium, cafeteria, and auditorium near the courtyard and main entry, encouraging students to interact.

The learning programs at Quincy High School are unlike most traditional public high schools.

The programs reflect a broad range of goals for the school’s various learner groups. Co-location of academic and technical programs has  resulted in:

Stopping the migration of students away from Quincy High School
A renewed focus on academic excellence, with a record 200 students participating in the state science fair; several students achieving perfect SAT scores; a fourth-place showing in the Boston University Robotics Competition; and the History Bowl team reaching the national competition in Washington, DC

Teams taking on interdisciplinary projects that bridge subjects as diverse as earth science, marine science, biology, carpentry, and plumbing.

Increased staff volunteerism and community use of school facilities after hours

Improved access to public-facing spaces as part of the revitalization of downtown Quincy
The emergence of Quincy High School as the premier provider of secondary education in the City

“As a result of this project, you walk around and everyone is so cheerful. And to me that makes a major difference.”

Frank Santoro, Former Principal, Quincy High School