The three existing dormitory buildings on the Maryland School for the Deaf Frederick Campus were constructed in the 1960s and have not seen significant updates since their original construction. Approaches to accommodating K-12 dormitory students have changed in recent years, as have the specific needs for accommodating deaf students in a dormitory environment. WBCM was engaged by the the owner to prepare programming for the replacement the existing dormitory buildings with all-new buildings.

WBCM initiated the project with a condition assessment of the existing facilities led by a multidisciplinary architecture and engineering team. This allowed us to learn the positives and negatives of the existing buildings, which served as a baseline for consideration of upgrades to be contemplated for existing buildings. The WBCM Architecture team also researched precedents for recent dormitory and deaf education facilities and used that information to inform the program.

Following the information-gathering phase, WBCM facilitated a series of programming workshops with key stakeholders from the school. In the workshops, WBCM worked with the group to articulate a vision for the new buildings and subsequently compiled this information into a detailed programming report.