The Brewster Central School District was one of DMR’s first clients after the firm was founded in 1991. At the time, the Brewster community was one of the fastest growing communities in New York and enrollment was projected to nearly double in the coming years, requiring a major, $39.3 million renovation and expansion endeavor.
Over many years, DMR’s relationship with Brewster saw renovations to each of the schools through construction, and also included the design and construction of a new, 50,000 SF elementary school.
The new school was designed to accommodate grades 4-5, an unusual approach that realigned the two existing elementary schools to K-3 and built onto the current middle school, which served grades 6-8, to allow all elementary-aged district students to experience the new school.
Named Cornelius Vander Starr Intermediate School, or C.V. Starr Intermediate School, after a local humanitarian, the building incorporates bold colors, geometric shapes and a two-story, sky-lit common area at the entrance of the building. C.V. Starr advanced many trends in teaching and technology that we take for granted now, such as flexible teaching spaces that allowed for team teaching, video displays that communicated school news in the lobby and Apple computers.