Beneath the Hoops, East Meditates With West
When the Ross School, a 5th- through 12th-grade private school, was founded in East Hampton, N.Y., in 1991, it became known for its curriculum of both Eastern and Western philosophies, and for sending its students abroad to study cultures firsthand. What the school lacked, however, was its own gymnasium. The $10 million Center for Well-Being, which includes a gymnasium and a cafe, was recently completed on the school's campus.
The center fuses East and West. When the 247 students enter the building, they smell bread baking -- one day Arabian flatbread, the next a French sourdough. There are plugs for laptops in the cafe, so students can hook up, and a meditation room with tatami mats, so they can chill out.
The gymnasium, at top, known as the Great Hall, offers basketball and volleyball courts on a bamboo floor with hand-stained blue, yellow and purple borders. The soaring space is acoustically designed for lectures, community meetings and concerts. In the Movement Room, above, students stretch, dance and do martial arts. (The four stone mosaics on the wall are inspired by Indian symbols; at its base are local grasses.) 'The building feels hand-crafted, and it was designed of sustainable materials,' said Richard Cook, the Manhattan architect who collaborated on the design with Courtney Ross Holst, the co-founder of the school. The building, open to the community, was paid for by Ms. Ross Holst's Ross Institute, which runs the school and four other educational programs. The exterior is ipe, a Brazilian hardwood grown for harvest. The building, which is at 18 Goodfriend Drive, also has a geothermal heating system. Reservations are required for tours.
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