CANAL CROSSING CHARTER SCHOOL

Location: Jersey City, New Jersey
Client: Friends of Quality Education
Design Team: KSS Architects, MPP Engineers, LLC, Kelter & Gilligo, Jem West, Consentini

The Empowerment Academy’s new charter school campus at Canal Crossing Redevelopment is located in Jersey City, New Jersey. The School will include approximately two thousand elementary through high school students. The site is envisioned as a cohesive campus that promotes an environment for education, wellness, and cultural engagement for the school and surrounding community. The site is designed to bring nature into the public spaces and encourages the community to enjoy these amenities at the school.

The four key outdoor spaces are the Entry Plaza, Covered Plaza, Central Courtyard, and Playground. These four spaces link the three buildings together with perimeter landscape around the site. The site is contained with a wooded area on the west and south side, and the east edge is adjacent to the historic Morris Canal Greenway that is connected to the larger regional Greenway system. The vision is to make this a green campus within the dense urban environment, being part of a larger network of public open spaces in the region. The campus is employing green infrastructure to help mitigate stormwater events by using bioretention areas to slow down stormwater runoff on the site.

The various outdoor spaces allow for large gatherings, as well as intimate uses such as outdoor classrooms. There is also a rooftop playfield and exterior rooftop terraces in the buildings. The campus is designed with many interior and exterior amenities for students, staff and neighboring communities.