Manhattan, NY The American Society of Registered Architects (SARA) presented a 2016 National Design Award of Honor to the New York City-based architectural and engineering firm John Ciardullo, P.C. and the New York City School Construction Authority (SCA) for the Beacon High School in New York. The 2016 awards ceremony took place during SARA’s 60th National Conference in Scottsdale, AZ.
Located at 522 West 44th St. in the Times Square Theater District, Beacon is one of New York City’s premier public schools focused on the arts and technology. Working as architect and engineer for the SCA, Ciardullo converted and expanded an existing six-story factory and warehouse from the 1920s into a cutting-edge, seven-story high school structure.
Ciardullo’s project team included principal John Ciardullo, R.A.; partner Chuck Heaphy, R.A; project executive Georgia Stokes; project architect/field architect George Varthalamis, AIA, LEED AP; project architect William Riley; project architect Brian Anderson; project architect Kyunghee Lee; structural designer Ardeny Goris; project manager Neil Bienvenu; and technical architect Matthew Lombardi.
“We expanded and converted the 205,000 s/f warehouse into a 235,000 s/f, modern educational facility by adding a double-height seventh floor to the existing structure,” said John Ciardullo, R.A., principal of JC. “The new school houses multiple performing arts venues, including the 5,376 s/f auditorium, music and choir rooms, and a black box theater.”
The new Beacon High School complies with the SCA’s Green School Guide and Ratings System and Local Law 86 of 2005, known as the New York City’s Green Building Law. The Green School Guide and LL 86/05 were instituted to conserve energy, reduce operating costs, and promote a healthy environment.
The renovated building includes a 432-seat black box theater, regulation-sized gymnasium, 40 general education classrooms, art and music rooms, science labs, a library, dance studio, cafeteria, and commons area. The new high school will greatly alleviate the overcrowding of the former school facility, which was located in the Lincoln Center area.
Beacon was previously located in a cramped existing building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. An extensive search was performed to find a permanent home for the school’s unique program. The search resulted in the discovery of an existing six-story former factory building, which was being used as a book storage facility for the New York City Public Library.
In addition to SCA and JC, the project team included general contractor Skanska USA Building, Inc.; civil engineer and acoustical consultant AKRF, Inc.; and mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) engineer DVL Consulting Engineers.
The Structure
The original warehouse was a concrete building with round concrete mushroom columns and low ceiling height. In order to accommodate all of the school’s functional needs, particularly the gymnasium and the auditorium, the architects added the new seventh floor. The new floor is a steel-frame structure bolted to the concrete-frame building. Ceiling heights average 25’, allowing for the creation of performing and athletic facilities within.
The original façade featured exposed concrete and strip windows, giving it little protection from moisture. It also had thermal and acoustical deficiencies. Thus, JC called for recladding the entire exterior envelope structure, using a rain screen to create a waterproof skin. In addition, they added insulation on the outside of the building then clad it with reinforced half-inch fiber-concrete panels in an elegant gray color as well as colorful metal panel details and expansive curtain-wall windows. The classroom windows were acoustically glazed (due to the noise from traffic) and hopper windows were used in the lower section.
The design team studied entrances on both 43rd and 44th Streets and opted for the main entry to be on 44th Street, across from another school, with a secondary entrance on 43rd Street. However, JC created an internal connection between the two street entrances and there is now displayed a permanent public art exhibit. The main entrance has a metal-clad green canopy that resembles a Broadway theater marquis.
The Interior
One of the design challenges was that the building stretches throughout a full block, at 200’ deep, which is unusual for a school. “This means a lot of interior space without access to natural light,” said Chuck Heaphy, R.A. of JC. “We addressed it by locating the classrooms on the perimeter to take advantage of the natural light. We then designed all large assembly spaces – the cafeteria, library, commons area, technology lab, and the black box theater –in the center of the floors.” JC glazed the walls of the corridors so light could permeate the interior. This solution also symbolized the school’s spirit of openness.
The library, on the fourth floor, serves as a unifying, central space for the school. The architects removed a section of the low 11’3” ceiling above a section of the library and created a soaring, double-height space that opens up to a commons space above the library. The commons area overlooking the library provides a central gathering expanse for students to socialize. It features a unique curvilinear ceiling. In addition to the commons above the library, the architects utilized unusually wide corridors, some of them 18 feet wide, as additional social and gathering spaces.
The music department was located in the cellar level, and includes three music rooms, a choral room with risers, and 12 practice rooms. Acoustical panels are on the ceilings and walls of this area.
The seventh-floor auditorium has wooden fold-down seats and a high-tech lighting and audiovisual system. It is clad in horizontal maple planks of varying widths wrapping around the three curved segments of the room. The adjacent 7,000-square foot gymnasium, with its maple sports floor, has a large automated folding partition that can divide the room in half or open it into one large basketball court-sized space. Retractable folding bleachers provide seating. High clerestory windows let light in. The gymnasium also features an auxiliary exercise room and a 2,644-square foot dance studio. Separating the auditorium and gymnasium is a lounge-like space with clerestory lighting. A prominent Brazilian-born New York City artist, Eli Sudbrack, who works under the name of his creative group – assume vivid astro focus – worked with the Beacon High School’s art students to create a stunning 80’ x 25’ mural on the wall as part of the “Sites for Students” project. A small mural is installed on the ground floor on the stairwell leading to the music department.
Developed in 1990, Sites for Students is an innovative public art program of the NYC Department of Education and the SCA. The program stresses art education as a component in the creation of permanent public art for new schools. Professional artist/art educators are commissioned to collaborate with students in the conceptualization and creation of projects for new school buildings.
In addition to the 40 classrooms, the space has four art classrooms, a photography classroom with a darkroom, three science labs, six science demo rooms, two science prep rooms, four special education classrooms, a black box theater of 1,860 s/f, an 8,093 s/f cafeteria with servery, a café, two technology rooms, a nurse’s suite, and a 4,000-square foot library.
The space has an industrial aesthetic to it. Vinyl composition tile flooring was used as well as direct-indirect fluorescent pendant fixtures and spray acoustic ceiling on the underside. In addition, there are exposed circular round ducts throughout the hallways as well as the exposed three-foot-diameter mushroom-shaped concrete columns and board-textured concrete ceilings.
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