The lower floor of the historic Schoolhouse building at Millbrook School was renovated to accommodate five classrooms, a faculty lounge, conference room, club room and a breakout space (as well as much needed restrooms). Each classroom accommodates sixteen or eighteen students in Harkness-style teaching configurations. The faculty lounge serves nine and the adjacent conferencing space can be either used for private meetings or small seminars. The focus was to make the space feel light, bright and calm despite the relatively low ceiling heights and limited windows. The palette of warm neutral tones balance with accents of darker furniture and the extensive use internal glazing brings the southern sun deep into the building.

This project enabled the school to recapture spaces that had last been renovated shortly after the opening of the  Hamilton Math & Science Building in 2008, which made the existing labs that had occupied the lower floor of Schoolhouse to become obsolete. The English and History departments gained access to the space and started using them but many of the rooms were over-sized for their function as humanities classrooms and, ten years later, the school was in need of more teaching spaces. The lower floor now feels open and welcoming, and with its multiple amenities has become an active hub for both students and teachers.