On the Horizon: The Hotchkiss Dining Commons

The Heart and Hearth of The School

A Hotchkiss education is not limited to the classroom. As a residential school, a core part of our mission is to foster a community that supports learning and growth in all areas of student life. The Dining Commons, which is set to open in the fall of 2025, will be the soul of that community: a place where everyone comes together, where mentoring relationships thrive, where students form memories that define their Hotchkiss experience. 

The Dining Commons will nearly double the seating capacity of the current Dining Hall, allowing 525 people to dine together. The facility will offer indoor and outdoor multi-use spaces for class work, meetings with teachers and advisors, group study, club meetings, gathering with friends, and more. It will feature a large, modern servery with numerous food stations as well as self-cooking options to stir fry, make omelets, and press panini. It will allow the School to deepen what is already a robust farm-to-table program with enhanced food, farm and environmental programming. Above all, it will serve as a warm, welcoming space for all members of the community.

Background

Every campus resident since 1948 is deeply familiar with the Hotchkiss Dining Hall. While this is a throughline of the Hotchkiss experience, little has changed since the building was built 75 years ago. Today’s Dining Hall seats less than half of the community at a time, and improvements over the past 75 years to mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems have been minimal. While mealtimes remain critically important to building a sense of togetherness, the quality of the dining experience at Hotchkiss has suffered given this outdated infrastructure.

THE DINING COMMONS PROJECT DETAILS

Bowie Gridley Architects has been contracted for this project. 

Key design elements will include:

• Expansion from 342 seats to 525
• Completely rebuilt and expanded servery and kitchen
• Creation of spacious access points to avoid overcrowding at peak times
• New east dining room for expanded seating capacity and ability to bring more natural light into the space
• New back dining room with expanded capacity 
• Complete overhaul of all mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems
• Numerous collaboration rooms for group study, classes, and meetings connected to the main Dining Hall
• New student activity spaces on the lower level
• Redeveloped south lawn for social gatherings and events
• New southeast terrace for outdoor seating and gathering in warmer months
• New northeast entrance to provide better connectivity to campus life
• New south entrance with restored and updated Lt. Col. James Lindsay Luke Foyer 
• New trash/recycling and loading dock area with better screening and more efficient systems
• A central drop screen with audio visual for sharing away games and events to support community and school spirit

An Opportunity to Play a Role

Please join us in making the Hotchkiss Dining Commons possible. Your support is a direct investment in the Hotchkiss student experience, and with your help, we will establish the Dining Commons as the heart and hearth of the School. Named spaces are available at various levels of leadership giving.

For further information about giving, please contact Chief Advancement Officer Ninette Enrique at (860) 435-3678.
 
For further information about the project, please contact Josh Hahn, assistant head of school and director of strategic initiatives, at (860) 435-3151.