Schools

School Building Committee Split Over What New Hosmer School Should Look Like

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A vision for what the new Hosmer Elementary School might look like was presented to the School Building Committee last week, and members had a variety of opinions. There are already a mix of styles on the site, including the Brigham House (formerly East Junior High and before that Watertown High School), along with the 1960s era section with the auditorium, and the 2002 addition that connects that area to the old classroom building. That building will be torn down and a new building will be constructed. Architect Scott Dunlap of Ai3 presented conceptual drawings for the new building, which showed a three story building with clapboard style siding  — red is some areas and white in others —  topped by pitched roofs and a cupola. “We are not attempting to match it with the Brigham House or the exiting Hosmer,” Dunlap said.

Schools

Hosmer Students Participate in Program Designed by Boston Society of Architects

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The following piece was provided by the Leaning By Design organizers:

Students at the Hosmer Elementary School in Watertown recently participated in a 6-week Learning By Design program, which was created using a curriculum provided by the Boston Society of Architects (BSA) Foundation and facilitated by Hosmer parent and architect Dynelle Long, and Hosmer Elementary School art teacher, Hae-In Kim. According to the BSA Foundation, Learning By Design “encourages children to explore and formulate ideas about the people, architecture and design of their own communities as they learn the fundamentals of design thinking through hands-on
experiences.”

The program, held at the Mosesian Center for the Arts, provided 19 students with the opportunity to reimagine the neighborhood surrounding their school. To do that, students participated in an architectural walking tour, identified goals and building types for their community, and worked in teams to create a scaled box-city model of Mt. Auburn Street with recyclable materials. Students used their math, science and technology skills to analyze what works well about their current community, generate design concepts for their new plans, evaluate their design work, and share their reimagined community with classmates and guests.

Schools

Conceptual Designs for Renovation of Watertown’s Elementary Schools Approved

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Details of what Watertown’s three elementary schools will look like after they are renovated came more into focus Thursday when the School Building Committee approved the conceptual designs for Hosmer, Cunniff and Lowell elementary schools. With the approval, the architects from Ai3 will move onto the schematic design phase of the project. The conceptual designs provide a guide for where designers will put new additions and which areas will be renovated inside the existing buildings, said Scott Dunlap, principal of Ai3. He added, however, that architects are still “pushing and pulling” the floor plans inside the buildings. Thursday’s meeting began with a walk through of the Hosmer site, where Ai3 had staked out the corners of the proposed new school building that would be built in front of the building with the auditorium and gym, ask you look from Mt.

Schools

Hosmer Proposed as Swing Space During School Construction Projects

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The architects for the renovation or rebuilding of Watertown’s three elementary schools presented refined conceptual drawings of the schools, and proposed to the School Building Committee that students from other schools go to school at Hosmer School while their school is being renovated. The conceptual plans for Lowell, Cunniff and Hosmer elementary schools includes some new construction and some renovation at each school. Architects from Ai3 shared a schedule that would stagger the start of construction at the three schools so that the new construction at Hosmer would be finished first, freeing up the old section of the school for other schools to use for a few months. Saving money on the project has been a focus since it was discovered that the construction cost estimates in the School Facilities Masterplan done by SMMA in 2016 were much lower than is realistic. Town Manager Michael Driscoll has pledged $120 million for the three elementary schools that would come out of the Town’s budget, and not require a tax increase, but Ai3 estimated the cost of the project would be as much as $180 million.

Schools

Hosmer Students Help Plant a Tree on Campus for Arbor Day

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Rarely does a tree get so much attention, but this week a group of 80 fourth graders from Hosmer Elementary School crowded around a young tree, freshly planted outside the school in honor of Arbor Day. 

Watertown resident and landscape architect David Jay organized the event, and made sure each of the students left with a sapling to plant in their own yard. In past years, Watertown’s Tree Warden organized tree plantings at the town’s elementary schools, but there is no warden at the moment. Jay stepped in this year on behalf of Trees for Watertown, a citizens group which advocates for trees. The dwarf apple tree was in place by the time many students arrived, but a group of children helped Jay remove the grass around the tree, making sure to shake the dirt from the sod back onto the ground around the tree. Then the students shoveled mulch around it.

Schools

Architects Present First Visions for What Watertown’s Elementary Schools Could Look Like

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It will be a busy several years, but by 2023 Watertown will have built or newly renovated three elementary schools and the high school. Monday night the architect hired to do the schematic designs laid out the timeline to get there. The elementary schools and the high school are on different schedules, with the Hosmer, the Cunniff and the Lowell planned to be worked on simultaneously, and after those projects are complete it will be about time for construction to begin on Watertown High School, said Scott Dunlap, principal of Ai3, the district’s architects. Watertown school officials got a lot of good news last week. “Last week the most exciting time for a Superintendent occurred over a 24 hour period,” said Superintendent Dede Galdston.

Hosmer School

UPDATE: Hearing Planned for Project to Improve Streets Around Hosmer School

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Note: The meeting originally scheduled for March 15 has been postponed to April 5. A Design Public Hearing will be held by MassDOT to discuss the proposed improvements project under the “Safe Routes to School” program for the Hosmer Elementary School in Watertown, MA, state officials announced. See more information about the project here: http://www.watertowndpw.org/Pages/construction/HosmerIndex

WHERE: Hosmer Elementary School Cafeteria, 1 Concord Road, Watertown, MA 02472

WHEN: Wednesday, April 5, 2017 at 7 p.m.

PURPOSE: The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) and the Town of Watertown are proposing pedestrian and bicycle safety improvements for the Hosmer Elementary School as part of the Safe Routes to School infrastructure program. The project is located at the intersection of Chauncey Street and Boylston Street and continues on Boylston Street through the School Street intersection, ending just north of Fairfield Street. The goal of the project is to improve walking and bicycling safety and access to/from the Hosmer Elementary School.

Department of Public Works

Two Spots Chosen for Demonstration Stormwater Retention Projects

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The Department of Public Works building and Hosmer Elementary School will have new installations that drain rainwater into the ground, rather than the town’s storm drains, and will serve as demonstration projects for what can be done around town. The search started with 22 potential sites for the demonstration projects, but that was cut down to 18 viable sites on property owned or controlled by the town. The Watertown Stormwater Advisory Committee met in September to pick two locations for the project. The group wanted to spots that would drain a significant area, be visible to the public and be located in different parts of town. The last criterium was the one that led to the Hosmer School location being chosen. The top two choices were in the parking lot of the DPW facility, and a spot at the bottom of the hill beneath Lowell Elementary School.