Lucretia and Joseph Brown Elementary School

Marblehead, Massachusetts

September 2021

Opened

$44 M

Project budget

450 pupils

in grades Pre k–3

86,000 sf

new school

Silver

LEED Certification

MSBA Model School

RDA was hired in 2017 to assist the Town of Marblehead in determining the best course of action to address programmatic and parity needs at its PK-3 grade level, where it operated two neighborhood schools and one consolidated school, spread out over five different school buildings on four different sites. We were charged with exploring both 160-pupil neighborhood school, and 450-pupil consolidated school options. RDA provided the District and Building Committee with (23) different development options with a detailed analysis of program, play space, traffic impacts, operating costs, massing/shadow impacts, phasing, permitting, and project costs. The Committee unanimously approved the construction of a new 450-Pupil school on an existing school site, designed by RDA. The design vocabulary speaks to Marblehead’s seaside location, and includes wave/buoy/sail/lighthouse references. An innovative two-story mosaic mural, the work of local artists, features historical and educational elements, and will mesh nicely with the school’s curriculum.

The support we have received from RDA over the past four years – from a two year Feasibility Study through Design and Construction – has been exceptional. The firm’s deep understanding of the MSBA process and its complexities was instrumental in helping us move our extremely complex school consolidation project forward. Given their attention to service and ability to understand what they were hearing, RDA easily established trusting relationships with the School District, Town, Owner’s Project Manager, and General Contractor, all of which has been so vital to the creation of a school that is educationally appropriate and fiscally responsible – our project mantra. Their team has been incredibly successful in designing a school that represents what our community is all about, from its unique coastal geography to our extraordinary history. Its light-filled and thought-provoking interiors are going to delight and inspire our students and staff for decades to come! I couldn’t be happier in recommending RDA to any other community embarking on a K-12 project.