School officials, trustees, alumni and faculty members of Holderness School in Holderness, N.H., on Saturday held the dedication ceremony, marking the completion and occupancy of the newly expanded and renovated 400-seat Weld Dining Hall.
The Weld Dining Hall renovation and addition was designed by ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge, a nationally recognized architectural, planning and interior design firm specializing in educational, science, sports and corporate facilities.
"The fact that we got it done and done well in such a short span of time is phenomenal," said Phillip Peck, head of Holderness School. "The entire student body and faculty are very enthusiastic about our new facility. ARC did a tremendous job in designing this project."
Holderness School, an independent co-educational boarding and day school nestled in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, is dedicated to a mission of educating and developing the whole student—mind, body and spirit.
"We were able to accomplish two major achievements: an excellent design and completion of the project on time and on budget," said Philip Laird, AIA, LEED AP, president of ARC and principal-in-charge of the Weld Dining Hall project. "We succeeded in creating a friendly, comfortable space for students, faculty and their families to enjoy their meals. With the completion of this project, the school is now able to serve the entire school community a sit-down, family-style meal comfortably under one roof."
By increasing the capacity of the dining area, the renovated and expanded dining hall now accommodates 400 people for sit-down, family-style meals and up to 475 for special functions. Improving the acoustics of the space has also created an atmosphere conducive to these family-style meals.  A new 1,200 s/f scatter type servery was designed to allow smoother traffic flow at mealtimes, and an upgraded kitchen will improve the quality of the food.
Construction on the $3.1 million project started in April 2008 and was completed in 20 weeks. Milestone Engineering and Construction served as the construction manager for the project. Ricca Newmark Design was the food service consultant.