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Queens Gateway to the Health Sciences Secondary School

Queens, New York
In progress

800-student specialized secondary school
 

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Located on the campus of the Queens Hospital Center, Jamaica, New York, the Queens Gateway to the Health Sciences Secondary School will provide students who have a particular interest in medical practice an intellectual background attuned to the health care professions.

The site, constrained by an underground utility tunnel, predicated a compact symmetrical functional organization, with the primary teaching spaces disposed in a series of wings arranged around a central open space. The single-story scale of the trabeated colonnade fronting the building responds specifically to the context of small-scale single-family residences opposite. It invites access and establishes the deliberative character of the academic environment. The open U shape of the four-story building volume declares its primary purpose of accommodation and with the gymnasium placed on a lower level at its center, expresses on its interior the sense of engagement and energy necessary to a successful educational enterprise.

Designed to the exacting standards established by the New York City School Construction Authority, the project includes classrooms for 800 students, 11 science labs, an auditorium seating 297, library, art studio, cafeteria, gymnasium and staff offices.

Brick masonry construction, supported over openings by pre-cast concrete lintels, establishes the mathematical precision of the building's geometry and will ensure durability over time.

A system of binary markings provides unique identity to otherwise repetitive interior spaces.

A mural by the artist Sarah Morris occupies the colonnade and reveals to the public the inner life of the institution.

Major Components

297-seat auditorium, gymnasium, 24 classrooms, 11 science labs, art studio, cafeteria, staff offices

Pei Cobb Freed & Partners services

Full Architectural Services

Structural

Ysrael A. Seinuk, P.C., New York, NY

M/E/P/Civil/Lighting/Security

Cosentini Associates, New York

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