Buffalo, NY
Student Commons
Nichols School
Completed 2019
Winner
2020 AIA Buffalo/WNY Design Award
Commercial/Institutional Category
Nichols School is a historic, private school located in North Buffalo that serves students Grades 5-12. The new Student Commons building is located between Mitchell Hall, one of the campus’s early 20th century E. B. Green-designed buildings and Flickinger Performing Arts Center. The building serves multiple purposes. First, it serves to expand the capacity of the campus’s dining
facilities and reduce the number of lunch periods for the students. When not occupied for dining, the building functions as a student center, which can be compartmentalized and used for large meetings. The new building also improved the functionality of the campus kitchen by reorganizing receiving and distribution as well as creating additional storage space. The building also serves as a new Main Entrance and lobby for the Flickinger Performing Arts Center.
Designed to complement the campus architecture, the new addition utilizes both masonry and limestone to provide historic compatibility and strong identity. The new building was designed around a gabled skylight that floods the interior of the existing and new dining area with diffused light. A gently curving glass wall on the west façade provides panoramic views to the athletic fields to the west.