p.s. 97
the highlawn
BROOKLYn, NY
Client:
New York City School Construction Authority
Awards:
Learning By Design – Outstanding Project Fall 2022
Photography:
Stuart D. Phillips
Publications:
Learning By Design – Fall 2022 Issue
The addition to The Highlawn is a modern contrast to the existing 1920’s era school in Gravesend, Brooklyn. The building fronts Stillwell Avenue and sits on a through-lot site. This site configuration allows the addition to face the next block, West 13th Street, thus not competing with the identity The Highlawn has long established along Stillwell Avenue. The addition utilizes flat plate cast-in-place concrete construction with an exterior clad in insulated precast concrete panels.
A reconfigured lobby was carved out of the existing cafeteria, and connects to the addition wing which houses a new administration suite. Relocating the lobby allowed for the incorporation of necessary accessibility requirements, while keeping it in the existing building allowed the school to maintain the Stillwell Avenue entrance, a critical program request.
Spaces created in the addition include; K-5 classrooms, a pre-kindergarten wing, art classrooms, science classrooms, an exercise room, and a state of the art kitchen. The building is topped off with an educational greenhouse and adjacent roof garden. The addition creates 464 new student seats for the New York City Department of Education.