With the planned addition equivalent in size to the original school, several locations for the new building were considered. The selected scheme provided a compact, multi-story expansion, connected by a series of bridge-like passageways to every level of the original building, minimizing its encroachment on the site. The new structure coils tightly around the original T-shaped school, preserving the existing playground and an allée of 70-year-old London Plane trees, reimagined as the forecourt approach to the new central entrance.

The renovation offered an opportunity to rethink the ‘front door” of the school and simplify circulation by creating a new, and transparent, common entrance for all students that leads them, according to their grade, to different parts of the building. The compact, “high-rise” plan, while unusual by the standards of typical American Schools, continues to develop a New York City tradition attuned to growing densities.