Built in 1919 for “offices & storage,” and renovated several times since, this existing seven-story steel framed building will be completely renovated to provide Manhattan’s West Village with a neighborhood middle school.  A generous lobby, carved from the original building’s loading docks, will connect the newly accessible entrances to the raised first floor on both Morton and Barrow Streets.  An expansive glazed wall replaces the existing flat masonry facade to bring natural light into the cafeteria and visually open the first floor to the neighborhood.

Years of neglect and insensitive modifications had damaged the original façade.  The severely compromised exterior masonry wall was stripped and completely replaced by high performance aluminum windows and a new terra cotta panel rainscreen system.  Part of the existing seventh floor slab will be removed and the steel framing of the sixth floor and roof will be reconfigured to create a column-free space for a gymnatorium, meeting the desires of the community.  In a gesture to mark the substantive improvement of the existing structure to the top two floors, the rounded corner of the original structure will be squared.