This scheme combines a sensitive renovation of a landmark Collegiate neo-Gothic school building in the heart of the Bronx (also the work, like the former DeWitt Clinton High School building housing John Jay College of Criminal Justice, of C. B. J. Snyder; with new construction providing additional instructional and support spaces.

Alterations to the existing building leave the landmark façade unchanged, and new rooftop facilities – housing classrooms and mechanical spaces – are set back from the perimeter walls to make them invisible to pedestrians below. The interior of the building, previously characterized by a lightless stair core in the center of its rectangular plan, is reorganized to provide larger, more open layouts and to allow light to penetrate more deeply. A new main staircase is built adjacent to a building-height course of bay windows on the east façade, while the original central stair core is transformed into a light-filled three-story atrium.

A new structure housing a kindergarten as well as elementary school classrooms is to be constructed atop a pre-cast concrete deck occupying what was previously a schoolyard behind the original building. The long open-plan enclosure is essentially a glass shed built around closely spaced L-shaped steel members; while these permit unobstructed views of the surroundings and the sky from within, their orientation creates a parasol shading the building’s interior.