Green Schoolyard at N.Y.C Lab Middle School for Collaborative Studies (M312), N.Y.C. Lab School for Collaborative Studies (M412) and N.Y.C Museum School (M412)
LOCATION
Chelsea Neighborhood, New York, NY
COMPLETED
October 2023
COST
$1,800,000
COLLABORATORS
Client: Trust for Public Land
NYC School Construction Authority
New York City Departments of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Education
the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice FLAG Art Foundation
Environmental Engineer: eDesign Dynamics - Montalto & Rothstein Engineering, DPC
Surveyor: Leonard J. Strandberg and Associates, Consulting Engineers and Land Surveyors, P.C.
Contractor: Fredante Construction Corp.
The schoolyard green renovation is the part of the Mayoral Extreme Weather Task Force, established in 2021 to explore the City’s response to extreme weather events and address a rapidly changing reality in which extreme storms like are increasingly common.
High school and middle school design team students wanted a schoolyard that had a diversity of activities and multiple "hang-out" seating types. The final design includes a gazebo with a green roof, outdoor classroom with modular seating, a concrete ping pong table, a new custom-designed book nook, a modern climber, fitness equipment, turf field, running track and basketball / volleyball multipurpose court. In collaboration with Custom Fabrication, we designed new, modern steel and wood site furnishings that include chess tables. Permeable paving was added along with a turf field to capture stormwater.
The new community playground gives quality park access to 48,091 residents within a 10-minute walk of the school.