The Richmond Avenue School, located in Atlantic City, NJ, is a new state-of-the-art 119,140 square foot combined-level elementary and middle school. The project, which occupies a small city block, accommodates 595 children in pre-kindergarten through the 8th grade. The limited site area and programmatic requirements necessitated a three-story, “U-shaped” design solution with classrooms wrapping around an outdoor play space. The school program also included a gymnasium, cafetorium, three science labs, instrumental and vocal music rooms, an art room and two computer labs. Being a community-based school, the gymnasium and cafetorium were isolated for community use after school hours and a 3,000 square foot satellite branch of the City’s Public Library was included on the ground level fronting the main public way. Located within a tight urban residential neighborhood, the three-story façade was designed with materials to visually reduce its scale, changing from brick and GFRC at its base to metal siding at the upper floor. A sloping roof with generous eaves was designed similar to its smaller scale neighbors, incorporating angled “brackets” to cleverly conceal rainwater conductors. The building was also designed utilizing green design strategies to maximize thermal insulation, minimize energy usage, bring daylighting into all spaces, and reduce water usage.
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