The Harvey School in Katonah has chosen the firm of Robert Siegel Architects to design its new Weil House & Barn Complex ”“ the cornerstone project of a campus master plan for the 107-year-old school.
When completed at the end of 2024 ”“ groundbreaking will take place in the fourth quarter of this year ”“ the group of intimately scaled buildings and outdoor spaces will provide the school with new welcoming facilities for admissions, development and alumni, as well as a gathering place for its community. Flexible space within the new barn structure on the 125-acre campus will contribute to what the school describes as its mission ”“ to prepare and inspire students to become independent, adventurous thinkers and engaged, compassionate citizens in pursuit of knowledge and truth.
Said Harvey”™s Head of School Bill Knauer, “Rob Siegel understands our school, so we feel fortunate to partner with him on the Weil House & Barn Complex, which will serve as a welcome center for the campus and a gateway to the remarkable experience awaiting students up the hill.” (The school has not yet released budget numbers for the project.)
For his part, Siegel approached the assignment not only as an architect ”“ one who has designed sustainable academic buildings as well as secure government structures for more than 30 years — but as a parent.
In 2016, when Harvey”™s leadership was considering a master plan for the private, co-educational school ”“ known for its small class size and 6:1 student-teacher ratio ”“ Siegel, who son was a student there, offered to help match the quality of the facilities to the caliber of the education and people.
Part of the Bedford arts corridor, a series of educational and cultural landmarks stretched out along Jay Street (Route 22) between the villages of Bedford and Katonah, The Harvey School”™s main entrance is nestled halfway between the historic John Jay Homestead and the mid-century modern Katonah Museum of Art.
Nevertheless, Siegel, whose firm is based in Katonah, said, “Harvey had a first-impression challenge. Any academic campus should have a physical, or at least a symbolic, front door. But when arriving at Harvey, I saw only a sign, some vacant historic structures and athletic fields. A sense of arrival and identity, welcoming and warmth, wasn”™t projected to the public. A front door would be an opportunity to communicate the reality that ”˜welcoming and warmth”™ is what Harvey is all about.”
With this in mind, Siegel pointed out that while Harvey”™s academic and athletic buildings are tucked up over the hill, providing a cherished, private setting for kids to learn and explore, a new admissions and administration building should be sited down the hill, accessible to all, and he tossed his hat into the ring to design it. After a lengthy selection process, Siegel”™s team was chosen by the school.
As a first step, Siegel sought to harness the imagination of the Harvey faculty, staff, alumni, parents and the 365 students in an open conversation with no constraints about what should and could be done with the proposed new facility.
“Meeting with the students was fun,” he recalled. “They are the party with the greatest imagination.”
His conclusion ”“ a simple update of the iconic yet derelict, barn and house at the base of the hill ”“ would not suffice. A new vision would be required.
“In our approach to this project we tried to balance many things ”“ heritage and creativity, memory and innovation, preservation and modernization, legacy and vision,” Siegel added. “The objective was to return this portion of the campus to the simplicity of the original farm homestead while recovering something of the spirit and spatial quality of the original 19th-century architecture, lost among the accretions of later interventions.”
