︎Year 5
Julia Cabanas
click images to fit screen︎︎︎
Harlem as School
New York, USA
New York City’s school
system is amongst the most segregated in the United States. Many of the city’s
public schools are overcrowded, rundown, and underfunded, resulting in the continued
marginalisation of students – many of whom are from Black and Latinx communities.
In Central Harlem, the issue of school segregation is inextricably tied to gentrification
and territoriality. As public schools are closed down and properties earmarked
by developers all over the neighbourhood, the sense of community ownership over
Harlem has started to decline.
This project rethinks the school typology by dispersing learning facilities across several urban blocks, in turn challenging Manhattan’s strict territoriality by transforming the school into a shared neighbourhood space. The proposal is a flagship elementary-to-high school campus for Harlem that ties multi-purpose community, cultural and education venues together. Overlaps between school and city are encouraged as both students and the wider community use the site.
This project rethinks the school typology by dispersing learning facilities across several urban blocks, in turn challenging Manhattan’s strict territoriality by transforming the school into a shared neighbourhood space. The proposal is a flagship elementary-to-high school campus for Harlem that ties multi-purpose community, cultural and education venues together. Overlaps between school and city are encouraged as both students and the wider community use the site.
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