Academic classes meet across campus, weaving the intellectual fabric of our community.
Concord Academy’s purpose-built science facility opened in fall 2016. How can a building facilitate the circulation of ideas? Glass walls and ample natural light. Collaboration zones in wide hallways. Reconfigurable classrooms with retractable, sound-curbing partitions. A rooftop experimental station. And a museum-worthy elevator and mobile carts that allow teachers to move equipment easily from the third-floor fabrication lab down for outdoor testing in Makers Alley. While CA Labs is primarily home to the science faculty—classrooms are equipped with sinks, ventilation hoods, and portable lab benches with chemical-resistant countertops, along with fixed and mobile whiteboards—English, math, and language classes are also being taught in the building, to everyone’s benefit.
The library at Concord Academy, the heart of academic inquiry, was built in 1987 under the direction of architect James Freeman (parent of John Freeman ’74). Prior to 1987, the Alum Reading Room, now the library’s reference area, served as the resource center for the campus, while the Concord Free Public Library (across the street from CA and known for its historic beauty and deep resources, including an incredible special collection with a focus on the town of Concord, its authors, and American Revolutionary history) met the school’s research needs.
In 1997, the library was dedicated in honor of J. Josephine Tucker, former headmistress at CA (1940–49). During her tenure, Miss Tucker recognized the need for a school library on campus.
The library was refreshed over the summer of 2017. Now home to the Academic Support Center and a new multipurpose space for group collaboration or classroom use, the library has separate areas for quiet study and teamwork. The group spaces are equipped with whiteboards, projectors, and flexible seating, and new glass walls allow plenty of natural light. Substantial changes in pedagogy and philosophy about the use of the space have taken place in the 30 years since the library was built. With this redesign, the library is now well poised to support 21st-century learning at CA.
Academic classes meet across campus, weaving the intellectual fabric of our community.