Millbrook Student Center | Millbrook School

A major renovation transformed a former barn into a comfortable place for student recreation, gathering, and study, complete with a cafe and outdoor terrace.

Millbrook is a college preparatory boarding school in the Hudson River Valley. Elements of green design, including HVAC updates and sustainable materials, contributed to the building earning LEED Gold certification. Keast & Hood provided structural engineering for the 8,900-sf renovation of the 19th century heavy timber framed barn. Structural design included a new addition housing a kitchen and mechanical room, a wide below-grade mechanical trench for air distribution, a partial second floor, a new deck connecting to an adjacent counseling office, and a terrace with assembly load capacity. Interventions were designed for several structural deficiencies identified during construction, including underpinning deteriorated timber walls and columns, replacing first floor framing with a concrete slab, sistering cracked joists, and supplementing timber beams.

A major renovation transformed a former barn into a comfortable place for student recreation, gathering, and study, complete with a cafe and outdoor terrace.

Millbrook is a college preparatory boarding school in the Hudson River Valley. Elements of green design, including HVAC updates and sustainable materials, contributed to the building earning LEED Gold certification. Keast & Hood provided structural engineering for the 8,900-sf renovation of the 19th century heavy timber framed barn. Structural design included a new addition housing a kitchen and mechanical room, a wide below-grade mechanical trench for air distribution, a partial second floor, a new deck connecting to an adjacent counseling office, and a terrace with assembly load capacity. Interventions were designed for several structural deficiencies identified during construction, including underpinning deteriorated timber walls and columns, replacing first floor framing with a concrete slab, sistering cracked joists, and supplementing timber beams.

CLIENT: Voith & Mactavish Architects, LLP
LOCATION: Millbrook, NY

TYPE: Academic, SERVICES: Adaptive Reuse, Renovation, MATERIALS: Concrete, Heavy Timber, Steel, Wood, SUSTAINABILITY: LEED, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Completed project photography © Jeffrey Totaro

read more +