Students and faculty at Frederick Gunn School enjoy a stately milieu tucked away in Washington, Connecticut. The school was founded in 1850 and sits on a 220-acre campus. There, Sasaki recently completed an addition: The Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship. The Tisch Center is smack dab in the heart of Gunn School, overlooking its historic quad. It houses the schools innovative science, math, engineering, entrepreneurship, and citizenship curriculum.The addition has three gabled roofs and sits on a masonry baseboth of these design features tie in nicely with Gunn Schools historic and idyllic environs. At Tisch Center, some elevations are opaque and others are lined in glass, suggesting a dynamic interplay between solids and voids.The addition has three gabled roofs. (Jeremy Bittermann)At certain sections, fins regulate daylight entering the volumes where natural lighting is optimal. The white elevations are punctured by large apertures with dark stone gray casements around them, breaking up the facade. All in all, the new addition is meant to function as an interdisciplinary active learning environment where multiple departments coalesce. The Tisch Center employed myriad sustainability techniques that demonstrate Gunn Schools commitment to going green.Fins regulate natural light. (Jeremy Bittermann)The building is organized around a vast, generous atrium. There, students enter and exit a multistory, light-filled volume awash with sunshine. Occupants have the option to either go right to class or enjoy break out spaces furnished with chairs and tables suitable for leisure activities.The building is organized around a central atrium. (Jeremy Bittermann)Windows at Tisch Center are thermal glazed; this helps maximize the buildings energy efficiency and provide greater insulation. Materials for its millwork and community seating areas were sourced from reclaimed trees, further offsetting its carbon footprint. Architects at Sasaki opted to use geothermal wells that generate energy directly from the earth for Tisch Centers heating and cooling sources. Tisch Center also has roof-mounted solar panels.Classrooms boast large windows (Jeremy Bittermann)Technology labs were designed for efficiency and collaboration. (Jeremy Bittermann)Jonathan Tisch, a Gunn School alum who bankrolled the eponymous addition, thanked Sasaki for the design. When youre on the outside looking in, you will see all of the various departments, you will see the classrooms and the students learning, Tisch noted, commenting on the additions porosity.And then when youre on the inside looking out, Tisch added, youve got a view on the campus that deserves to be embraced. Thats whats so amazing about the design.