Westborough High School

Westborough, MA, 1968, by the Architects Collaborative (TAC)

Westborough High School was originally designed by The Architects Collaborative under founding partner John “Chip” Harkness who had overseen many of the firm’s local high school projects including the famous Wayland High School. The planning committee’s report on the new high school praised Harkness for his focus on cost savings without sacrificing necessary academic spaces saying, “It has been a pleasure working with an architect who is not concerned with building a ‘memorial’ to himself but is genuinely concerned with keeping costs down”. The result is a fairly austere building with a basic brick and concrete facade that focuses on letting the pristine hillside speak for itself.

Inside, the plan took advantage of the steep terrain by extending a singular bar across the hillside allowing for access from the first and second floor. Inside classrooms wrapped the exterior wall allowing for a large auditorium space in the center. A large entryway pierces through the northern half of the plan, creating a cafeteria above while reaching out to the gym which is entirely separate from the rest of the school. The building was designed to be easily added onto and just that was done in 2001, filling in the space around the gym and the original rear courtyard.

Sources:

“THE NEW WESTBOROUGH HIGH SCHOOL: A PROPOSAL PRESENTED BY THE HIGH SCHOOL PLANNING COMMITTEE” March 1966.
The Architects Collaborative Archive