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The Bradley McNeil '93 Learning Commons
The Bradley McNeil ’93 Learning Commons is designed to be the new heart of our campus. Included in our current plan is a library, additional classrooms and a reconstruction of The Phoenix from The Manlius School, as we recognize the important of “hang-out” space for students. The new library will be the main component of the building as the anchor of our academic environment.
In a school that values the life of the mind, the library should be prominently located, aesthetically inviting, and supportive of all the learning endeavors of students and faculty. It should be equipped to bring the world into focus through technology. It should be THE place to study, read, contemplate, and learn.
Manlius Pebble Hill’s library is currently located in the basement of the Amos Building, far from the flow of student activities and classrooms. The square footage of the library has not changed in recent decades, even though enrollment has more than doubled. The library must accommodate all grades in a single space, so a teacher may be reading aloud to a group of Second Graders in one area of the library while Juniors are researching constitutional law a few feet away. Without dedicated spaces for small group work, teachers and students feel the frustration of balancing the advantages of group work with the need of others for quiet study, research, and reading. In short, the existing library is poorly equipped to serve the current needs of students and faculty.
The Commons will be built at the back of McNeil, overlooking the Chappell athletic field. In addition to distinct spaces for Lower, Middle, and Upper School libraries, the building will include a reading room, a variety of small spaces for teaching, group work, and individual research, a computer lab, and two additional classrooms. Acknowledging that we now live in an age of instant information, the design also provides for a technology infrastructure to integrate online and print resources seamlessly throughout the library. Flexible space is key to its design.
The library should be a space that brings us all together while meeting our different needs - from First Graders gathered in a circle to hear a story and Model United Nations students researching global warming to a meeting space for the Board of Trustees and a quiet place for an alumnus to rekindle memories. The Commons will become just this space - a central meeting place for students and faculty, anchoring the School, telling the world what we value, and serving the entire school community.
