PS456 and Khalil Gibran International Academy share a new pair of buildings that meet strict environmental efficiency standards.
Credit: Pavel Bendov/James Ewing/Sarah Schumacher for Bloomberg
New York’s First ‘Passive House’ School Is a Model of Downtown Density
A progressive elementary school and Arabic language high school occupy a high-achieving Brooklyn building designed by Architecture Research Office.
Building a school in a city is always a bit of a puzzle. Without the sprawling exurban lots that so many school districts favor, there’s a balancing act between recreation space and classroom needs, efficient movement of kids and places for them to stretch out, welcoming entrances and secure facilities. But those were only the first set of challenges Architecture Research Office (ARO) faced in designing a 146,000-square-foot public primary school and high school on one of Brooklyn’s busiest thoroughfares: The twin facilities were also part of a full-block development atop a 100-year-old subway tunnel, and they needed to achieve the rigorous Passive House efficiency standards.
“Honestly, one of the things we are good at is that puzzle of, ‘How do you come up with a rational and good architecture, no matter what the constraints are?’” says ARO principal Stephen Cassell. “We will rarely say no.”