Ganeinu Academy is a learning center in a former synagogue that follows a Reggio teaching approach, a method that emphasizes social, hands-on, and student-directed learning. In close partnership with the school, we designed a renovation and plan for expansion. The project accommodates Ganeinu’s growth projections, supports their pedagogical program, and reinvigorates their dilapidated existing building, which was badly damaged during Hurricane Ida.

The masterplan imagines a family of buildings that combine a school and community center that support the needs of students and their families. Working with a challenging and irregularly shaped zoning lot, we developed a distinctive massing that maximizes usable interior space while accommodating the unique classroom designs the Reggio approach demands.