How can an elite boarding school in British Columbia engage its environment with as much care as it engages its students?

Brentwood College School Vision + Masterplan

McLennan Design led a master planning and visioning effort for Brentwood College School, an elite boarding school on the waterfront of Vancouver Island. The project centers around a revitalized, sustainable waterfront, featuring a dramatic boathouse suspended over the striking waters of Saanich Inlet. The masterplan also includes several academic and administrative buildings and a central water treatment plant that will facilitate the campus’ transition to a Living Community.

The vision is simple – to create the world’s first truly resilient, self-sustaining campus as a beacon of hope, leadership, and environmental stewardship. This lofty aspiration is grounded both in practical architectural solutions and an innovative educational curriculum. Inspired by the site’s unique position in a truly wild and biodynamic part of the world, the redesign of the campus is focused on bringing out potential opportunities for discovery, creativity, and education.

Project Name:  Brentwood College School
Program:  Masterplan, Waterfront Plan
Typology:  Education
Location:  Mill Bay, British Columbia
Year:  2018
Project Team:  Jason F McLennan, Joshua Fisher, Blake Gallagher

Diagram Description

Diagram description…

Engaging the Environment

Architecture, infrastructure, and landscaping are all envisioned to bolster and protect the ecosystem while allowing students to engage with their surroundings. A tempting waterfront pathway encourages all to enter a beautiful, social, and edifying journey through the site’s fragile and fascinating ecotone. Far more than a simple utilitarian facility, the central water treatment plant is designed to be a transparent and inviting educational center, complete with an outdoor wetland treatment component. Anchoring the entire experience is the central boathouse and event space, built out over the water to fully embrace the waterfront environment and provide a dramatic centerpiece to this reinvented campus.