Sound School Mass Timber Competition

The Sound School is a Connecticut Agriculture Science and Technology (ASTE) Center located at 60 South Water Street in New Haven Connecticut. The school was founded in 1978 and construction of the current campus was completed in 2003. In 1994 The Sound School was converted from a New Haven High School to a Regional Vocational Agriculture Center recruiting students from 20 surrounding districts. In the interests of promoting vocational education and bringing a better racial balance to the state’s urban school districts, the legislature broadened the concept of agriculture to include aquaculture. The school specifically supports underserved communities in New Haven and surrounding towns. The student population of 340 students consists of: 100% free/reduced lunch recipients, 58% minority students, and more than 60% urban students. As an inter-district regional center, the rest of Sound School’s students come from twenty-five nearby cooperating school districts.

The Sound School recently completed an accreditation review with the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. Expansion and updating of facilities were identified as priority needs.

The proposed Sound School Environment Center will provide needed additional workshop and classroom space for a campus with few resources. The proposed four new classrooms and large workshop will allow mission critical courses to be taught with appropriate space and facilities. The building will provide integrated covered boat storage and an outdoor amphitheater which will serve as a gathering space for the entire school population. The Sound School Environmental Center will provide a new iconic center for The Sound School campus, demonstrating the school’s principles through its purpose driven design, use of mass timber materials, and its relationship with the surrounding natural environment.