St. Timothy’s School: Five Arts and Student Center

Currently, St. Timothy’s, an all-girls high school chartered in 1832 and located in Stevenson, Maryland, is embarking on its most significant modernization and building transformation project in the school’s history — the renovation of The Five Arts and Student Center. The school is once again partnering with Thos. Moser to fill the space with more than 250 pieces of custom crafted cherry furniture, for the refurbished 320-seat theater. The new Five Arts and Student Center is expected to be complete in December of 2018 with the dedication planned for May 2019.

“After adopting an International Baccalaureate program curriculum more than 10 years ago, we’ve made great strides in modernizing our campus spaces, but our art facilities were woefully unprepared to respond to the needs of our program, and our student life facilities were not adequately responding to the needs of our students,” states Randy Stevens, Head of School at St. Timothy’s School.

Today, the school is adding 13,000 square feet to the Five Arts and Student Center’s existing 15,500-square-foot footprint to create a state-of-the-art cultural center where students can immerse themselves in literature, dance, theater and music all under one roof. A 1,000 square-foot art gallery to display student and community work, a 320-seat theater for performances, and an innovation lab with a 3-D printer to foster creative and design work is planned for the building, along with a new second-floor addition to the front of the building. That new space will house the Dean of Students offices, and the school’s new full-service Health and Wellness Center. A new Harlequin dance studio and 3 classrooms are being added to the back of the building.

The new student center will occupy the main floor and has been designed so that light floods into the space through large glass windows. There is a multimedia room and meditation room all designed to meet the evolving needs of students today. The custom-built Thos. Moser furniture will take center stage, especially in the student lounge area. There, it will add color, depth and beauty to the space while simultaneously creating a comfortable and homey area for students to gather and relax, work together on projects or quietly study on their own.

“When we decided to use Thos. Moser furniture for this project, parents wondered why we would incorporate such nice furniture in a school – ‘my daughter is not going to be able to relax. She can’t put her feet up on the tables, etc.,’” noted Randy. “We worked closely with the Thos. Moser team to come up with a solution that would put parents at ease, while reducing the need to go back to the board frequently to ask for money to replace the furniture,” he continued.

Creating a comfortable, homelike environment for the student lounge area was critically important. The architecture firm, SLAM Collaborative, and Randy’s team decided to incorporate pieces from our residential furniture line to create cozy conversation areas. They selected our contemporary Chaise and our mid-century modern Fahmida Chair upholstered in comfortable and durable fabric. To create cohesive and spacious conversation areas, they asked us to adapt the Fahmida chair into three-seat sofas.

Additionally, given the evolving technology needs of the students, we designed new furniture pieces to accommodate power outlets. “Students use multiple devices and we wanted the lounge area to provide as many electrical and USB charging stations as possible – and provide them in close proximity to where students would be gathering,” noted Randy.

According to Jared Kay, a project manager at Thos. Moser, “when you’re trying to maintain good design it’s never fun dealing with electrical cords, however, we came up with a solution for our Fahmida side tables. We couldn’t cut channels into the legs to hide the power units, so we put them in the center of the table with a cord running straight down from the box underneath the table to the planned electrical outlets. The table is now a multi-functional piece providing a surface for personal items and a place to plug in – and without sacrificing the design of the original.” To round out the student lounge conversational areas, Thos. Moser was also asked to design and create custom coffee tables. These pieces needed to reflect the modern aesthetic, have multiple built-in charging stations and be durable enough to withstand students putting their feet up on them or throwing their book bags on top. The result is a beautiful rectangular coffee table – called the Coffee Block – made of cherry wood and topped with a polished engineered quartz.

The Moser team has also crafted furniture for the theater in the new arts facility. The new 320-seat theater has been created to accommodate large community gatherings and has the most up-to-date lighting and AV equipment. The school however also wanted to be able to use this space for religious events and lessons. To give the space a more chapel-like feel, Thos. Moser has designed, a high altar table, a worship lectern, a table-top cross and candle stands all in cherry wood to resemble the furniture we created for the school’s Katharine B. Wilson Chapel completed in 2014.

With the installation of furniture at the new Five Arts Center just around the corner, Randy says there is something special about the Thos. Moser brand, and he wishes other companies provided a similar level of customer service. “There’s something incredibly personal and authentic about Thos. Moser’s customer service. It’s unique in this industry.”