Description

The Stephen Gaynor School is a special school in high-rise Manhattan occupying a
multi-storey building in close collaboration with a dance company. It makes a
virtue of its urban surroundings, being at the heart of the city and wider
community. Unlike many other buildings in the area that offer street frontages
of flat highly glazed façades, Stephen Gaynor school stands out, quite
literally. The library is pushed out, forming a cantilevered reading bench with
views down the street. There is also a recessed play balcony, animating the
building and suggesting a break from the norm.

Children attending Stephen Gaynor School are of good to high intelligence, with
what the head teacher describes as ‘learning differences’. The school creates
programmes that challenge and stimulate pupils with learning difficulties to
achieve their full potential. In practice this is done through small class sizes
and a dedicated team of staff.

Joined for social and financial sustainability, Stephen Gaynor and Ballet
Hispanico have overlapping spaces and facilities, but separate access. This
means that each organisation has its own identity, whilst also being interwoven
– a clever move architecturally and organisationally. Both organisations share a
staircase and lift, creating instances of interaction between dancers and
children. People also using the building could be considered distracting, but at
Stephen Gaynor, members of staff see the interaction with their neighbours as
crucially important to the children’s personal development.

Vertical circulation is challenging in special schools on open sites,
particularly where children with physical disabilities are studying. Stairwells
can be difficult to manage for staff and can make way finding challenging for
students. This is overcome at Stephen Gaynor by using the stair as an
orientation tool, a visual aid, but also a focal point for the school. The red
ribbon stair meanders through the school and creates many instances for
interaction between students in transit and those in class, through cleverly
positioned windows. The space on the stairs is generous, allowing children to
dwell there without preventing others from passing by, making an informal
meeting place.

External space is limited, but still provided through a rooftop playground at
first floor level. However, the school usually undertakes physical education in
neighbouring Central Park, proving that special school activities can be
integrated into the locale without concerns of security, enabling students to
feel part of the city’s everyday life.

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Originally published in: Prue Chiles (ed.), Leo Care, Howard Evans, Anna Holder, Claire Kemp, Building Schools: Key Issues for Contemporary Design, Birkhäuser, 2015.