Ganeinu Academy is a learning center in a former synagogue that follows a Reggio teaching approach, a method that emphasizes social, hands-on, and student-directed learning. In close partnership with the school, we designed a renovation and plan for expansion. The project accommodates Ganeinu’s growth projections, supports their pedagogical program, and reinvigorates their dilapidated existing building, which was badly damaged during Hurricane Ida. 

The masterplan imagines a family of buildings that combine a school
and community center that support the needs of students and their
families. Working with a challenging and irregularly shaped zoning lot,
we developed a distinctive massing that maximizes usable interior space
while accommodating the unique classroom designs the Reggio approach
demands.

The building is being delivered in a series of phases and its relatively simple visual appearance belies the incredible complexity required to deliver this whilst keeping the school operational. A robust materiality is proposed so that the textures of the building encourage the teaching pedagogy whilst lasting for generations.