The East Harlem School / GLUCK+

Architects: GLUCK+
Area: 27800 ft²
Year: 2008
Photographs: Erik Freeland, Theo Morrison
Manufacturers: Trespa
Structural Engineer: Robert Silman Associates
Mechanical Engineer: Rodkin Cardinale Consulting Engineers
Design Team: Shannon Bambenek, Kees Brinkman, Kathy Chang, Steven Chen, A.B. Moburg-Davis, Marc Gee, Peter L. Gluck, Bethia Liu, Jill Reinecke, Elaine Sun, Stacie Wong
City: New York
Country: United States

The East Harlem School, a middle school (grades 4-8) designed by GLUCK+ in New York, NY, significantly enhances the educational opportunities for low-income families in East Harlem. This independent, not-for-profit institution, completed in 2008, tripled in size to meet urgent local needs. The design integrates public and academic spaces with flexibility for future changes, promoting a strong community ethos while accommodating evolving educational methods.

“Our dream was to have a space that showed we would defend our families’ interests [and] had a soaring ambition for them and ourselves… In a democracy, we believe that … shared spaces, not private dwellings should be the most beautiful in our lives… There is a hush when people enter here… an intake of breath when one realizes that this is really how things should be.”

– Ivan Hageman, head and co-founder of The East Harlem School

The East Harlem School is an independent, not-for-profit, year-round middle school (grades 4-8) that enrolls students from low-income families in East Harlem. Scholarships are provided for all students. It is the first independent school built in Harlem in decades. The new 27,800-square-foot building, completed in Fall 2008, enabled the school to triple in size, addressing the neighborhood’s urgent educational needs. The school maintains an intimate student cohort, recognizing each individual as a community contributor.

The building’s design reflects this dual purpose. The lower floors, connected by a prominent public stair visible from the street, house public spaces including a large cafeteria, gymnasium, and entrance lobby. These floors are clad in translucent, acid-etched glass, allowing passersby to see the daily activities of students and teachers. The upper floors, containing classrooms and other academic spaces, are veiled by a mix of windows and panels in varying colors and reflectivity. This fabric-like screen provides the secluded environment needed for focused learning and discipline. The pixelated façade places window openings according to interior needs rather than external aesthetics. Corridors are designed as informal rooms, encouraging casual interactions between teachers and students outside classrooms. This multi-use approach to circulation spaces de-institutionalizes hallways, giving them a sense of place.

The building maintains flexibility for the future, allowing rooms to be reconfigured to accommodate changing needs as the school’s pedagogy evolves. The long-span structure design with deep lateral beams allows all classroom walls to be non-structural partitions. Concentrating mechanical ductwork and equipment in the corridor ceilings also provides flexibility in configuring the space from the corridor out to the façade.

The school operated under a very tight budget due to the high construction costs typical of inner-city schools, the timing during a building boom, and the location within a 100-year flood zone. The foundation needed complex friction piles to prevent the building from floating and required full waterproofing of the lower floors. To address this, the cellar slab was raised just above the water table, elevating the first floor 3 feet above the sidewalk. This raised first floor necessitated a ramp from the street to meet accessibility standards, which also created a pathway for students’ arrival, allowing the Head of School to oversee the morning procession from his office.

GLUCK+ served as both architect and construction manager in an Architect Led Design Build (ALDB) process, ensuring intensive quality control and significant cost savings at every project stage. This dual role enabled full participation in the construction process and collaboration with manufacturers and subcontractors in design development. By engaging experts in their specific fields, they formed creative partnerships with vendors. For instance, collaborating with a locker manufacturer led to a custom locker design at a standard price. Streamlining construction and procurement reduced final costs significantly below the Guaranteed Maximum Price, allowing for quality upgrades to more durable finishes and over half a million dollars in savings returned to bolster the school’s endowment.