New Pavilion Construction Project

If you’ve eaten lunch on the Tandem campus, you might recall crowding around a few outdoor tables, or having to make a run for it to a building lobby or the Senior Lounge on a rainy day. How about trying to find a gathering space for an entire division if the Community Hall was in use? We’re delighted that Tandem Friends has completed construction on a covered pavilion space - our first new building project on campus in twenty years! The pavilion is located directly behind the Community Hall building, accessible to the quad. It includes 1700 square feet of open dining/assembly area in addition to bathrooms and a small storage area. As shown in the architect’s depiction, it is open on three sides with large garage-style doors to allow flow between the cafe and the quad and to maintain access to the outdoors and the feeling of community. 

 

Train Architects designed the pavilion and Martin Horn was the builder. “This is the first building project to happen at Tandem Friends School since 1997,” says Whitney Thompson, Head of School. Martin Horn initially broke ground in November 2020, and despite a few unexpected delays, including the restrictions of COVID, the earth-moving part of the project resumed in early March 2021, followed by the pouring of the building’s foundation and framing of walls and roof.

At Tandem, the combination of the amazing education and truly caring community are the core of who we are as a school. We needed to design a space that supports how important community interactions and relationships are here.  When the pavilion is not used for lunch, it provides a much-needed large gathering space for an entire division, grade level, or individual class. It serves as an inclement weather or staging space for many events such as our annual community picnic and Mother’s Day Music Festival. We have learned the importance of having large and open spaces; with physical distancing still an important COVID mitigation, we expect the pavilion to be used as a large classroom as well.  

“Funding a project like this is a big accomplishment,” says Whitney Thompson. “With annual fund dollars already committed towards our operating budget, projects like this can only be accomplished when donors are motivated to work together towards something big." The Perry Foundation approved a grant to Tandem of $200,000 with a required 2:1 match. Several generous donors stepped forward to meet the match. "We are very grateful to the Perry Foundation for their support and motivating donors to make the pavilion possible."  We also thank the many generous donors who contributed to this project. We celebrated the opening of the new Pavilion on October 8, 2022.

If you are interested in learning more about this and other projects at Tandem, please contact Tracy Proctor, Director of Institutional Advancement.