An existing 28,000 GSF parking structure underwent a total renovation to become a new home for the Bedford Academy High School. The school consists of classrooms, offices, a science demonstration laboratory, library, and a cafeteria. It shares athletic resources with the adjacent YMCA, also designed by Blair + Mui Dowd Architects.  Each floor of the school has a central lobby that serves as students’ gathering spaces. Lively patterns of ceramic tiles with the school colors of blue and gray suggest a sense of scale and activity. Despite existing low floor-to-floor heights, the classrooms appear larger due to widened window openings, exposed ceilings, and minimally visible mechanical equipment. Floor and ceiling spaces were maximized through efficient mechanical layouts and by locating the main piping and ductwork in a new shaft outside the building.

Although the design of the Bedford Academy did not begin until the summer of 2004, the renovation was expedited and completed in time for students to begin their Fall 2005 semester on schedule.