The new state-of-the art facility will be a five-story, 154,000-sf Performing Arts High School located on 174 Ipswich Street, directly across from historic Fenway Park. Designed by Wilson Butler Architects in conjunction with Perkins Eastman, the new cutting-edge performance spaces will include Boston’s only teaching and fully-accessible 500-seat theatre, a 150-seat black box theater, and a multipurpose recital hall that can accommodate up to 60 performers and 100 audience members.  Each floor is devoted to one of the school’s disciplines: 

• The 1st and 2nd floors are dedicated to Theater and will host Acting & Movement Studios, a Film studio, and a Screening Room.
• The 3rd floor, devoted to Dance, will include numerous studios and changing rooms.
• Visual Arts and Fashion Technology will occupy the 4th floor and will accommodate 2D and 3D Art, Styling/Design, and Exhibition Studios.
• Music will take over the 5th floor and will boast various choral, ensemble, and practice rooms, a recording studio, midi lab, percussion studio, teacher planning rooms, instrument storage space, and a rooftop performance.

All levels will offer core flexible classrooms, special learning, and experimental spaces, including a cutting-edge STEAM lab where students will explore where math, science, technology, and art intersect. In addition, public space and lobbies on the 1st and 2nd floors will double as galleries for both students and established artists. Designed to facilitate crosspollination between the different art forms, the new facility will spur collaboration and creativity. The BAA will provide an outstanding arts education at Boston’s only public high school for the visual and performing arts.  Construction for the new 500-student facility began in May of 2019 and is scheduled for completion for summer of 2021. The project is slated for LEED Gold Certification.