Taconic Hills Central School - Campus Building and Facilities

Campus Building and Facilities

The Taconic Hills Central School opened in fall 1999 after years of debate about the district's facilities plan and a fast-track design and construction process that took just a year and a half. The $50 million school encompasses 350,000 square feet, making it one of the largest schools in the state of New York. The design, created by Rhinebeck Architecture & Planning in Rhinebeck, N.Y., is designed for a capacity of 2,000 students in K-12. The design groups the K-grade 2 and grades 3-6 units on one side and the grades 7-8 and grades 9-12 units on the other. The entry to each side features a two-story atrium, which helps orient students to their location in their wing. A community center is situated between the two school wings. The facility includes a 1,000-seat performing arts center that opens to an outdoor amphitheater (the two share a common stage), two media centers, an aquatic/fitness center, and three subdividable gymnasiums with stadium-style seating. The original quote of 759 interior and exterior doors included 276 interior and exterior hollow-metal doors. In mid-project, the school district received a donation that allowed for the addition of the aquatic/fitness center. Taconic Hills Central School has won several national, regional and state awards, including the prestigious Learning by Design 2001 Citation Award from the National School Boards Association. The Taconic Hills district also hosts many visitors from other districts who come to study the facility and borrow ideas for their own schools.