On Sept. 2, The Bear Creek School’s upper-school students in grades 9-12 will start the school year in a new building.

The new 52,000-square-foot building sits on adjacent property south of the existing main building at its Redmond campus on 208th Avenue Northeast. Construction was completed by the general contractor, JR Abbott Construction, Inc. in June, on time and on schedule, one year after commencing in June 2014.

The Bear Creek School is planning a Building Dedication Celebration from 4-7 p.m. Sept. 12. The event will include children’s activities, tours of the new building, and the dedication ceremony.

The new upper school echoes a collegiate environment, with separate floors for the humanities and for math and science. The physical layout will accommodate increased enrollment and will enable additional program and curriculum development and integration. The centerpiece of the new building is a central atrium that offers flexible areas for learning micro-communities, study sessions, presentations and student-faculty interaction beyond the classroom walls. This atrium will also serve as the cafeteria mid-day and theater reception area in the evening. The building features three large, dedicated science labs, a Student Leadership suite, an Innovation Lab, a state-of-the-art library and classrooms with lots of natural light and environmentally responsive features built in throughout.

The Performing Arts Center wing includes specially designed rooms for instruction in visual arts, music and drama, as well as a green room and music lab. There will also be an auditorium-style theater, featuring 350 seats, a fly loft and professional-level, digital sound and lighting systems. The theater, slated for completion in 2017, will be available for community rental when not in use by the school.

The new building will impact Bear Creek students in every division, not just the upper school. Bear Creek has re-imagined its existing facilities to provide distinct, age-appropriate learning environments with additional space and flexibility for academic, programmatic and psychosocial student engagement and growth. With the new building, Bear Creek will gradually increase its graduating class size to 72 students, while individual classrooms or sections will remain at 16-18 students.

For more information about the new building or the school, visit www.tbcs.org/newbuilding.