GILL — Students at Northfield Mount Hermon School attended their first math and science classes in the new Gilder Center on Monday.
The 42,000-square-foot, $30 million building is the new home for NMH’s math and science departments, as well as the most environmentally friendly building on campus.
According to an NMH press release, the Gilder Center was intentionally designed to meet sustainability standards laid out in the global 2030 Challenge, using local materials whenever possible. (The 2030 Challenge, outlined by the nonprofit Architecture 2030, aims for all new buildings, developments and major renovations to be carbon-neutral by 2030.) NMH trustees and leadership prioritized this approach to support the school’s commitment to reducing its carbon footprint.
“We want this building to be a living laboratory and a place that embodies our commitment to being good environmental stewards,” Head of School Brian Hargrove said in the release.
A unique feature of the building allows students to monitor and measure progress toward this climate goal. The central “hub” has a screen that displays a real-time feed of the Gilder Center’s energy and water usage, as well as reports from a campus weather station and a special sensor that detects levels of dust or smoke in the air. Thermal imaging cameras are also available for students to observe how efficiently resources are being used.
Environmental Science Teacher and Gilder Center Program Coordinator Becca Malloy noted that these feeds will funnel into classrooms.
“Students can use the data for work they’re doing in the classrooms, whether it’s physics or pre-calculus or another subject,” Malloy said.
Marketing and Communications Director Natalie Georges said a dedication ceremony on Oct. 16 served as “a moment for NMH to celebrate the students, families, teachers, staff and donors who made this environmentally sound and academically forward-thinking project possible.” Attendees learned about the building’s distinctive features through a tour, and met faculty members who have been preparing programs and initiatives designed to maximize academic opportunities at the Gilder Center.
The building is named in honor of Class of 1950 alumnus Richard Gilder (1932–2020), who donated the lead gift of $10 million for the project in 2020, which remains the largest cash gift in the school’s history. He then pledged an additional $5 million challenge gift in June 2015. Under the terms of the “Gilder Challenge for Innovation and Opportunity,” Gilder donated $1 in financial aid funds to the school for every dollar donated by others toward the construction of the center, up to $5 million. This match was successfully completed.
A member of NMH’s board of trustees from 1968 to 1976 and a lifelong supporter of the school, Gilder died peacefully on May 12, at age 87, in Charlottesville, Va. A post about Gilder’s passing on the NMH website states he was “a lifelong devotee of history and an outstanding philanthropist.”
Georges said the new Gilder Center will create “a Silicon Valley-like learning environment for students while honoring the school’s architectural history” and “will open the door to creative, multidisciplinary, and experiential learning and teaching.”
Bea Garcia, assistant head of school for academic programs and dean of faculty, said the Gilder Center will not only provide flexible spaces for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) classes, but will be a learning center for the entire school community. She is particularly excited about a design lab where students can “spark ideas as faculty guide them through imagining, designing and fabricating projects.”
Before all science classes moved to the new building on Monday, students attended the start of the school year in the Cutler Science Center. At this time, Georges said, it is unclear what the future of the Cutler building will be.
Zack DeLuca can be reached at zdeluca@recorder.com or 413-930-4579.