Spanning over 150 years of history, Packer Collegiate Institute is a K-12 independent school on a historic half-acre Victorian Gothic campus in the unique urban environment of New York's Brooklyn Heights. 

Hudson Studio Architects has been working with Packer Collegiate since 2009 starting with a Master Plan for the Science Wing, the Upper and Lower School classrooms, all to be accomplished in a series of summers. They worked closely with teachers and administrators to best meet the needs of Packer’s exciting teaching methodology while practicing sustainable design. 

The Summer 2014 phase of renovation focused on the Lower School and included ten Classrooms, a Learning Specialist suite, seven Tutoring Rooms, a new Lower School Music Room, Second and Third Floor hallways, and lighting in the Founders Stairway. 

The Music Room was moved to allow like grades to be clustered together. Each classroom now has state-of-the-art touchscreen technology, ample whiteboard and tackboard surfaces, and built-in storage for teaching materials. The Learning Specialists occupy a new suite of rooms and six air-conditioned tutoring rooms were created to support multiple teaching approaches. 

As architects, Hudson Studio’s education practice is guided by the belief that exciting architecture can motivate students to learn. Equally important to the task at Packer was to restore and reinforce the sense of place so that even the first time visitor perceives the tradition that is cherished here, and can also see Packer as a vital place of learning in the 21st century.