Started by activist chef Alice Waters in Berkeley, California, the Edible Schoolyard Project integrates organic gardening and cooking into public school curricula. Since 2009, WORKac has worked to bring Edible Schoolyards to New York City students.
Like WORKac’s first Edible Schoolyard at P.S. 216, the second Edible Schoolyard at P.S. 7 in Harlem is designed to be an architectural learning tool. Establishing new connections between building systems, kitchen classroom, and surrounding garden, the building encourages students to reconsider their own relationship to the environment.
The P.S. 7 greenhouse bridges ESY’s kitchen classroom and offices, located within the existing school. To one side, it opens directly onto a rooftop garden. To the other, a dynamic blue staircase provides a direct outdoor connection to the school’s courtyard, which is outfitted with playful planters.