The Garden House was designed by WXY architecture + urban design (WXY) for The Packer Collegiate Institute’s Lower School. Located in the Brooklyn Heights neighbourhood of Brooklyn, New York, the Garden House is a four-level mass-timber building and the first major capital project to emerge from WXY’s 2022 Facilities Master Plan for the school. The development forms part of a broader strategy to consolidate the historic campus, improving accessibility and connectivity, while establishing a sustainable vision for educational design.
Founded in 1845, The Packer Collegiate Institute is an independent, coeducational day school serving students from Pre-K through grade 12. The new Garden House accommodates students in grades 1–4.
Campus context
Located within the Brooklyn Heights Historic District, Packer’s campus reflects nearly two centuries of incremental growth. Its architectural fabric ranges from the 1854 Founder’s Hall to the 2003 adaptive reuse of St Ann’s Church and the 2014 renovation of 100 Clinton Street. While this architectural accumulation contributes to the campus’s character, it has also produced fragmented circulation and operational inefficiencies.
The 17,250-square-foot Garden House extends from the preserved shell of an 1869 brownstone, previously isolated on the southern edge of the site. This new addition connects disparate buildings and centres the campus around a revitalised shared green space.
Material and spatial strategy
Externally, the building is clad in red brick manufactured with 100 percent recycled clay content, referencing the Victorian masonry found across the campus and in the surrounding neighbourhood. Internally, classrooms are arranged to allow flexibility and daylight, with timber surfaces, low-impact materials, and acoustic treatments suited to younger students.
The structure is formed from cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glulam sourced from sustainably managed forests in northern Ontario and is the first mass-timber school building completed in New York City. These structural elements are left exposed throughout, contributing to the interior’s spatial character while supporting reduced embodied carbon. Together, the material choices prioritise durability, environmental performance, and appropriateness for early-years learning environments.
Learning environments and interior character
The interior makes extensive use of exposed mass timber, millwork, and deep window sills, introducing warm textures, natural light, and views towards the surrounding landscape. Each grade occupies its own floor, organised around a dedicated sequence of classrooms, learning suites, washrooms, and breakout spaces. Classrooms are aligned along a single-loaded corridor to maximise daylight and maintain visual connections to the outdoor garden.
A central staircase anchors the building, orienting circulation, creating sightlines between floors, and shaping a space for social interaction.
Landscape and outdoor learning
The garden at the centre of the campus was revitalised by WXY in collaboration with landscape architects Starr Whitehouse. It is conceived as both a shared outdoor space and an extension of the learning environment. New planting along Livingston Street forms a buffer to traffic noise and air pollution, helping to improve environmental conditions within the site.
Two new universally accessible entrances provide more direct access to the garden, strengthening its role as a central gathering space. The landscape design incorporates timber play elements and stepped seating to support informal learning and outdoor activity. It includes 40 new trees, 179 shrubs, and more than 1,000 perennials and grasses — nearly 90 percent are regionally native or climate-resilient species.
Energy, systems, and performance
As outlined in WXY’s Facilities Master Plan, The Packer Collegiate Institute has committed to a 30 percent reduction in overall campus energy consumption by 2040. The Garden House contributes to this target through a fully electric design that combines high-performance insulation, daylight-responsive lighting, and efficient HVAC systems with low-carbon, durable materials. Two green roofs further support on-site stormwater management while contributing to energy performance.
The project also explores mass-timber construction as an alternative to conventional steel or concrete systems. In addition to its lower embodied carbon, this approach offers potential benefits in construction sequencing, reduced site disruption, and delivery timelines.
Campus continuity and future readiness
Both contemporary and contextual, the Garden House responds to the immediate requirements of early education while addressing longer-term climate and energy considerations. The building extends the campus’s architectural language with restraint, reinforcing existing spatial relationships while introducing new material and environmental strategies.
“The Garden House demonstrates how sustainability can be integrated into the everyday learning experience,” said Claire Weisz, Founder and Principal-in-Charge at WXY. “By combining mass-timber construction with all-electric systems and responsibly sourced materials, we were able to reduce the building’s carbon footprint while creating warm, welcoming spaces for young students. We hope it can serve as a reference for how existing buildings and historic campuses can evolve to meet ambitious climate goals without compromising on historic character or design.”
