Roof-Top School, New York City Design Project, Manhattan Education Area, Architecture Images
Roof-Top School in NYC, USA
Mar 26, 2020
Saint Stephen of Hungary School
Design: HMA2 Architects
Location: New York City, USA

The Saint Stephen of Hungary School has been an anchor institution in New York City for almost a century, serving Pre-K through 8th grade students and their families since opening in 1928. In the early 2000s, the building started falling behind compared to other schools, so the school leadership decided to develop a strategic plan to renovate the school facility and its shared assembly spaces, along with the affiliated church. The focal point of the multifaceted plan was to attract additional families and teachers to the school by offering student-centered and project-based methods of teaching and learning, while also supporting advanced flexible and modern learning and community experiences.
There were several important parts to this renovation, which started with updating the existing five-story building with newly flexible spaces that would best support collaboration and interactivity within the classroom, improving student performance and also suit their recreational needs. It was essential to harvest as much as possible of the building?s existing structure and make the most of the 20,000 square feet. The bones of the school were mostly found to be in good shape, but overall it still needed a facelift to support the end goal. One issue in this process w...