Peekskill Middle School, Community Center & City Green
Peekskill Middle School, Community Center & City Green
Peekskill Middle School, Community Center and City Green
New Middle School site before transformation
View of the new Middle School at the Washington Street entry
Peekskill Middle School, Community Center and City Green
Project Information
Peekskill City Schools
Peekskill, NY
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New Construction
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Renovation
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Multiple Projects
Honors and Awards
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2014 American School & University Outstanding Design
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2011 AIA Westchester/Hudson Valley Citation
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2011 Learning by Design Honorable Mention
New Middle School conceptual diagrams
New Middle School conceptual diagrams
The first bond to pass in Peekskill in decades required a “supermajority” of the public voters in order to pass. The major focus of this bond was the construction of a new Middle School to replace an early 20th century building that was beyond its useful life.
The new Middle School, Community Center, and City Green project was an important civic achievement for the City of Peekskill. The 140,000 sf building was constructed on the site of the existing Middle School while the school was in operation. The site, with its magnificent views of the Hudson River to the west, was challenging. Because the site terrain slopes 80 ft from east to west, we placed the new building at the western edge of the site’s slope. The building is a five-story
structure as seen from the west, but is only two stories as seen from the east. After the new building was finished, the existing Middle School was demolished and a new City Green was created.
The Middle School accommodates 800 to 1000 students in grades 6 to 8 in two houses on three floors. The Community Center offers visual and performing arts spaces, an athletic center with a competition gym and natatorium, and a cafeteria with spectacular river views. The Middle School is closed off when school is not in session so that the Community Center can remain open seven days and evenings a week.
The new City Green has transformed the surrounding neighborhood by introducing a green, athletic space and opening up vistas to the river.
Additional bond projects included science labs at the high school and infrastructure improvements at the district's four elementary schools and Administration Center.
Campus Planning
Peekskill Middle School, Community Center and City Green
New Middle School site before transformation
View of the new Middle School at the Washington Street entry
Peekskill Middle School, Community Center and City Green
Peekskill is a 19th-century Hudson River city at the northwest corner of Westchester County. The city plan is based on an orthogonal grid where north-south streets run parallel to the river and the natural slope of the land. East-west streets run perpendicular to the river and slope steeply.
The new Middle School was located on the site of an existing 1920s high school, which was converted to a middle school in the 1960s. This conventional building of the 1920s barely acknowledged its spectacular Hudson River Valley site. The site was bordered on the east by Ringgold Street, a residential street on the uphill side, and on the west by Washington Street, a commercial street on the downhill side. There was an 80-foot change of grade between the upper and lower streets.
The old Middle School was situated close to Ringgold Street with a playing field behind it to the west. Our plan placed the new building on the existing playing field, demolished the old building, and created a new playing field (a city green) on the east side of the new building. The new building accommodates four stories of topographic change from its lower level on Washington Street to its upper level bordering the playing field and Ringgold Street. This placement provides for spectacular views of the Hudson River from classrooms, lobbies, and the cafeteria, which face west. On the east side, a two-story façade faces back toward Ringgold Street and defines the western edge of a new city green. This green, which is the playing field for the school, responds directly to the city plan grid and to the fabric of the residential neighborhood.
Peekskill Middle School and Community Center
View of auditorium from the stage
Choral room
The new Peekskill Middle School and Community Center offer students and the community spaces to showcase the visual and performing arts.
In the new Community Center wing, the proscenium-style theatre accommodates at audience of approximately 600 in raked seating. This arrangement shortens the viewing distance to the stage and creates optimal sight lines.
Additional spaces for the arts include music classrooms and rehearsal spaces as well as spaces for traditional and digital arts. The corridors in the school were designed to be continuous art galleries.
Peekskill City Green
Site before transformation
View across city green to the new middle school
Peekskill is a 19th-century Hudson River city at the northwest corner of Westchester County. The city plan is based on an orthogonal grid where north-south streets run parallel to the river and the natural slope of the land. East-west streets run perpendicular to the river and slope steeply.
The new Middle School was constructed on the site of an existing 1920s building, converted to a middle school in the 1960s. The 1920s building abutted Ringgold Street, a residential street on the uphill side of the site. To the west of the old school's playing field, there was an 80-foot change of grade down to commercially-zoned Washington Street The new school was built on this west-facing slope so that the old school could remain operational during construction. After the new school was completed, the original school was demolished and a new city green was constructed in its place.
The city plan, the Hudson River Valley, the precipitous slope of the site, and the requirement to preserve the old school during construction of the new one all contributed to the design of the new city green. This green, which is the playing field for the school, responds directly to the city plan grid and to the fabric of the residential neighborhood.