This winter season, the Deerfield ski team has gained an impressive new asset: a remodeled ski room. 

Having been motivated by growing demand for the room’s improvement, team Captains Bob Zhang ’23 and Joe Brown ’23 redesigned the room, located in the basement of the Barton dorm, with Visual and Performing Arts Teacher David Payne. “Despite our stellar record, there was not much of a locker room culture. There was nowhere to sit and the doors on lockers were falling off,” Zhang said. “Joe and I had both taken architecture with Dr. Payne and realized that we could use the skills we learned in class to help out the Deerfield community.” The remodel includes a team meeting space, movable tuning benches, and seating. 

However, numerous challenges arose during the project. “There were no blueprints for the old ski room in the archives, so we did not have access to preexisting, accurate, measurements of the room,” Brown said. “We had to get in the room with a tape measure and get creative!” Additionally, the students had to accommodate safety policies in their design. “I recognized that there are so many logistical elements that are crucial in design like fire codes and air circulation,” Zhang said. 

Despite these difficulties, the students completed the new design with improved tools and layout for the ski room. Team Captain Josephine Cramer ’24 emphasized how the new room’s additional space and seating has brought the team together. “We used to not be able to fit [in the locker room], but now we can,” she said. “Now, we can have team meetings in [the ski room] and can be together as a team.”