Framingham, MA, 1973, Ellerbe Associates
The Joseph P. Keefe Technical School was designed for the South Middlesex Regional Vocational School district for students from of Framingham, Natick, Holliston, Hopkinton, and Ashland looking for an alternative to the traditional high school experience. The vocational model allows students to receive hands on training in specialized shops such as Automotive, Carpentry, HVAC/R, Design and Visual Communication, Programming and Web, Cosmetology and more. To house these shops, the Winter Street facade is made up of a rigid grid of large concrete frame and metal panel warehouse style spaces.
The park side of the building is made up of large expanses of windows taking advantage of the natural landscape of Cushing Park and emphasizing what Ellerbe Architects saw as the most important aspect of the building, the Student Street. The building interior creates a comfortably wide hallway allowing for gathering spaces to exist alongside the circulation paths. Booths and tables have often been set up for trade shows and local celebrations in these alcoves, activating the space. The classrooms opposite the hall receive light from two large courtyards which are managed by the school’s landscaping students and since its opening have been tastefully filled with projects from different shops.
The auditorium and cafeteria and the gymnasium bookend the street. To account for a sudden grade shift, the cafeteria is stepped creating smaller spaces helping to manage student behavior. Unfortunately the gymnasium end is where the innovative building has begun to most egregiously show its age. The pool recently closed due to severe structural decay making it unsafe for habitation. With that in mind, its easy to look around at the school and start to notice the peeling paint and rotting ceiling tiles and see a failed structure. But Keefe Tech is a space for students who needed an alternative path to succeed and the building housing it is built on that value of questioning the status quo and creating spaces that celebrates the student.
Sources:
Architecture Minnesota, “Honor Awards” November-December, 1975.
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