Lady Liberty Alliance Charter School

Additional Info

Award Winner : Steel River Building Systems, Inc.

Architectural Excellence : The design challenge was to overcome fragmented, diverse site conditions including a 50 year old existing building, and a detached gym to create a sense of place for the school community. The new addition wraps around the old, creating a central courtyard which becomes the organizing element for the school, and serving multiple functions. The courtyard: establishes an easily monitor able recess space where children can safely play and are visually and acoustically from the surrounding residential neighborhood; creates an overall ‘campus’ feel by way of single loaded corridors and faculty offices which face the courtyard giving students and faculty alike the ability to ‘see’ their school in action and participate in its vibrant life. The massing of the new school addition is stepped down from two to one story on its southern side, maximizing the light entering the courtyard and blending with the scale of the residential neighbors.

Cost Energy Effectiveness : Given the extremely low budget the architect utilized off the shelf products in innovative ways to create a unique building suited to its clients specific needs. For example, the designers translated the schools need for large areas of pin-up and display space by incorporating long runs of aluminum framed homosote, a very inexpensive material, into an architectural element that mediates between the classrooms on one side and the open courtyard on the other.

Design Firm Name : Gluck + Architecture

Engineering Firm Name : Kohler Ronan, LLC

Green Building Description : Along with the typical ease of recycling and minimal material waste off-site construction offers there were a couple of design elements incorporated into the project; Rain Screen façade to increase thermal performance, reduce air infiltration and promote good air quality, EcoWhite membrane providing the benefit of keeping the roof cooler , Low VOC Paints.

Installer Firm Name : Modular Building Specailists

Occupied Date : 8/1/2014

Owner Firm Name : Build With Purpose

Production Start Date : 11/11/2013

Project Location City : Newark

Project Location State Name : NJ

Technical Innovation : To achieve the required spans of typical classroom space and to complete as much work as possible in the factory to limit on site cost and time, a hybrid steel and wood modular system was invented. Steel moment frames created a rigid solution allowing installation of large storefronts and most of the exterior cladding in the factory, and helped achieve the spans required for classrooms and a cafeteria. The wood infill helped to keep the costs down

To minimize costs further, the project uses various off-site trades including: Precast foundations, Off-site built modular construction, and Offsite built site components including outdoor trellised walkway and Turf Playground.

Total Square Feet : 18000