The Promise Academy is the largest school built for the Waiting for Superman documentary hero, Geoffrey Canada’s Harlem Children’s Zone initiative. Built within the superblock created for the St. Nicholas Houses project in the 1950s, the school is home base and a safe place accommodating 1,300 students from “cradle to college” in Canada’s famous words
Every detail of the building, from siting to finishes, was a collaborative effort that included extensive meetings with NYC Housing Authority and the NYC Department of Planning as well as the HCZ principals and teachers of each grade. Residents of St. Nicholas Houses were part of the process even before construction started and during as updates were given at tenant association meetings, employment opportunities were posted and seats were set aside for enrollment in the new school.
Making a difference in the community begins by engaging the community so when a 135,000sf, 240ft long 5-story brick and metal panel clad school building broke ground, the residents at St Nicholas Houses noticed. The light, neutral shades of the exterior materials are a fresh contrast to the surrounding institutional 14-story red brick residences. Brick used on the lower level to lend a familiar quality and human scale to the building sport a progressive two-toned stacked bond pattern and create a lively streetscape. The bold colors of the Harlem Children’s Zone logo are reflected in the curtain-wall frame surrounding the library, entry canopy and adjoining entrance wall.
The HCZ’s goal, to break the cycle of generational poverty in central Harlem and change the odds for the whole community with services to address the problems faced by families in Harlem so their children can succeed in school, is a bold experiment. The building to house their ambitious agenda was completed in June 2013 and is home to a full-sized gymnasium, two large roof-top recreation areas, two separate libraries (one for the lower school and one for the upper school), a 6300sf cafeteria, 52 general classrooms and more than a dozen specialized classrooms. Open year around and long hours for the many social service and after-school programs offered, the addition of school and community center in this marginalized neighborhood in NYC is a positive change, a promise to the next generation.
