04.25.24

PS11 (Queens) New Addition

Client: NYC SCA
Location: P.S.11, Queens, NY
Size: 170,000sf (incl. existing building)
Scope:
Located in the Woodside, Queens, New York, the PS11 Addition is a new NYC Green Schools Certified, PK-6 building currently beginning construction.
Services:
  • Schematic Design
  • Construction Documents
  • Construction Administration
Notoriety:
Creating a unified school with well-connected spaces to ease student/faculty circulation and educational functions, the addition completes the existing L-shaped building, embracing and protecting the playground from three streets, forming a safe and nurturing environment for the students. The fourth side of the site opens to the beautiful greenspace of Doughboy Park. Acknowledging this, the addition connects with surrounding nature by orienting some instructional spaces towards the park, providing beautiful, unobstructed views. The new school entrance, relocated to the new addition, expands into a three story open stair lobby, connecting with the new playground to the East, and greeting the students with morning light.

The addition, which doubles the physical size of the school, will grow its capacity to 1500 students and provide necessary functional spaces missing from the existing building: general PK-5 instructional spaces, science and art classrooms, a kitchen, cafeteria, and auxiliary gymnasium, elevators, and administration spaces. The scope of work also includes a full upgrade of the existing building: accessibility (new elevator, entry ramps, and toilet upgrades), a new library, instructional spaces including music and computer classrooms, sprinklering of the entire building, boiler and fire alarm upgrades, and lighting replacements. Integral to the project is the redevelopment of the 40,500sf playground, in which terraced outdoor classrooms, play equipment, and a new athletic field will be located. This multi-phased project is technically complex, due to difficult site conditions including a 33 foot variation in height across the site, and restricted site access.