Constructing a Special Place for Community

Reprinted from Traditions, Winter 2019-20
April 7, 2020

On January 21, Ben Beery ’03 stood in the new Tom and Debbie Lentsch Forum as students, teachers, alumni, and community members marvelled at the new space and the impact it will have on student life. Beery was already familiar with every inch — as the lead architect, he’s been thinking about how this project will impact CDH for more than a year.

“Schools have this strong sense of community, and I wanted this space to reflect that. I’ve heard it referred to as a living room — I think that’s a perfect alignment of what this space is and its purpose. I’m really proud to make such an important addition to my alma mater.”

When Beery was a student at CDH, he remembers the lack of any space to spend time with his friends — all social interaction happened in front of someone’s locker or passing in the hallways. That won’t be the case for future generations of students, who will have this new “living room” as a space to relax, work on projects, and enjoy each other’s company.

Beery’s been preparing for this role for decades. Back when he was in high school, he was once the only student who registered for Drawing 3. Rather than asking him to pick a different course, he had the chance to pursue independent study — where he developed skills he’s still using today.

“I spent a whole trimester just working with the instructor, teaching myself to draw and doing design projects,” Beery recalled. “We designed my dream house and all these other things. It was a period of time where I could just explore and draw.”

Beery’s interest in architecture began long before that, as he grew up watching his parents take on major home projects. He saw remodels and additions go from sketches on paper to real spaces in their home, and was inspired to pursue even bigger projects.

Now, as an architect with Wold Architects and Engineers, he specializes in schools. “I love the community aspect of designing a school,” he said. “A school building is many things; it’s not just a bunch of classrooms put together. These are big buildings that are very integrated in the community and they will be around for a long time. It’s really a chance to make an impact on a community.”

He’s worked on Wayzata, Shakopee, Spring Lake Park, Highland, Pequot Lakes, and more, but he never imagined he’d have the chance to work on CDH.

“I never even considered the possibility that I might get to put an addition on my high school,” he said. “The fact that I got that opportunity is just wonderful. It means a lot that I had a chance to come back and work on a place where I spent a lot of my formative years. It’s really an awesome opportunity and I think it’s rare.”

The process of designing the Lentsch Forum began more than a year ago, when Beery sat down with CDH decisionmakers to talk about their goals for the project. They knew they wanted a grand entryway, a welcoming space that could be enjoyed by students and visitors alike.

“We got pretty close right out of the gate on the design,” Beery said. “Part of that was because we knew we wanted one big room. We had to figure out how we could get you that space. You are pretty landlocked here, so there weren’t a lot of other places on the building available that had the space.

“As far as the aesthetics of it, that came together quickly too as we really built off of things you already had in the facility to tie it together. The wood panelling is similar to the office, the brick is similar to the fieldhouse, the tower is mimicking the Hamline side. We didn’t want to create something totally brand new that was foreign to this campus. That helped make that decision process pretty efficient.”

In his ten years as an architect, Beery has been surprised by the things they didn’t teach him in school, like how to run a business, sales, and communication with clients. In his work today, he spends most of his time collaborating with clients, understanding their needs, and focusing on relationships first. Up next is one of the biggest challenges of his career so far — a brand new high school for 1600 students in Owatonna. He’ll also be working on a remodel of White Bear Lake HS.

“They’re massive big projects, some of the largest projects in our firm’s history,” he said. “It’ll be fun."