Brooklyn Court Transforms into Two High Schools

The renovation of the 140,000-square-foot building will be complete for the start of the 2008-2009 school year.

Meaghan O'Neill -- Interior Design, 4/19/2007

Construction is underway on architecture and planning firm Gran Kriegel Associates’ latest project, a $56 million adaptive reuse conversion that will turn a former downtown Brooklyn courthouse into two 500-seat high schools. The project, overseen by the New York City School Construction Authority with M.A. Angeliades as the general contractor, is expected to be complete for the start of the 2008-2009 school year.

The 140,000-square-foot building, which dates to 1951, was originally built around a central core. Its interior will be completely gutted and reconfigured to accommodate the new schools, which include the Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice and the Urban Assembly School of Math and Science for Young Women.

The schools follow the typical Board of Education models with some modifications. The size of the building itself will decide some of these changes: Spatial constraints required the consolidation of the gymnasium and auditorium into a flexible multi-purpose room that will replace the existing penthouse. A movable partition will allow the space to function as sport center or performance space, or to simultaneously accommodate two activities. Here, the steel-framed, long-span joist structure will be separated from the existing roof by an interstitial space that will allow efficient MEP distribution and noise reduction. An additional egress will also be added. Others changes are specific to courses of study. In the school of law, for example, a wood-paneled courtroom will be constructed, complete with a judge's podium, witness chair, and jury box.

To update functionality, all of the building’s systems will be replaced. Elevator shafts will be combined to accommodate larger, ADA-compliant cars. The deteriorated limestone exterior will be clad with a thin-stone façade system and windows will be replaced throughout the building.