Bronx Community Charter School (BxC) is an inspiring learning community which quickly filled their inaugural space and sought  expansion into a new space as the prime tenant in a new building on Webster Avenue.  The new 30,000 sf space accommodates K-8 grades as well as Science, Fine Arts, and a large Multi-Purpose Room.  The design includes an outdoor roof garden and activity space. Throughout the design phase, ESKW/A worked closely with the Directors, Owner's Representative, teachers, and trustees to develop Schematic plans which reflect the school's mission to encourage learning in many different environments.  ESKW/A spent time in the classrooms observing the way the teachers work and gaining insights to the success of the school’s pedagogy.

The school occupies two floors connected by a central open stair to enhance a unified identity for the school. The double-loaded corridor flows from a large open commons lobby designed to encourage a variety of uses. Dedicated grade nooks announce the entrance to each grade cluster and provide break-out teaching environments.  A large multi-purpose space offers flexibility including a performing arts space.  The process of working closely with the school to understand their educational mission has yielded spaces which are dynamic and unexpected. Exposed mechanical and structural systems reveal the bones and views of the building to provide didactic expressions of building technology.

ESKW/Architects returned to assist the school in expanding into additional space within the building to accommodate their successful and growing program. Utilizing the high ceilings of the ground floor, a perforated corridor wall and sculpted ceiling brings abundant daylight into the classrooms while buffering them from exposure to the adjacent Webster Avenue.