Launch charter school

Fabric of a Neighborhood

Location : New York City, New York

Client: Launch Charter School

Year : 2017-2018

Status: In Progress

Collaborators: ARO and Scape

Launch currently houses 300 middle school students in a shared NYC DOE building in Central Brooklyn. Launch is an NYC Outward Bound School that implements the EL Education model that places  character and intellectual development on equal footing. Launch  students have the opportunity to learn with purpose, develop their  character, and unleash their potential through compelling hands on learning and a deep sense of belonging and personal agency.  

Launch intends to build a full K-12 model, beginning with a campus for  HS. In order to open a high school at the campus, Launch intends to  apply to amend its current middle school charter, a process that will be  subject to approval by the state education department in February 2022.

At Launch, the definition of student success goes beyond traditional metrics. It embraces a commitment to the whole student. Success is multi dimensional and includes: 

• Mastery of knowledge and skills centering critical thinking and project based learning 

• Character development founded on community values, social justice and student advocacy 

• Quality work rooted in communities’ histories while imagining just futures

Project Principles

EDUCATION: CURRICULUM, LEARNING AND PROGRAMS 

  • Center the student experience to promote educational, social and emotional growth and foster  student independence 

  • Utilize the entire site and building as a teaching tool to provide spaces, programs and equipment to  create a learning environment suited to enhancing a Launch curriculum rooted in EL learning

  • Provide flexibility for an evolving curriculum and inspire innovation in student learning • Plan for a future phase expansion of grade-levels and student population 

STEWARDSHIP: SUSTAINABILITY, ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

  • Evolve the project through the lens of Environmental Justice: ensure that buildings and site do not  harm its occupants while also promoting the well-being, joy, and enrichment of all users

  • Advance environmental sustainability and regeneration across all aspects of the project and  leverage it to expand pathways to green jobs.  

  • Democratize access to the benefits of the site and to nature 

  • Enhance and expand upon existing ecological restoration efforts in Jamaica Bay 

  • Anticipate future sea level rise and coastal storms with resilient design 

COMMUNITY: JUSTICE, LIBERATION AND ANTIRACISM 

  • Embody anti-racism, justice and liberation through the process and outcomes of design

  • Amplify and celebrate community voices, centering community values and visions in the spatial and  programmatic implications of design. 

  • Remove barriers to physical, educational and gender accessibility 

  • Acknowledge site histories through the lens of racial, social and cultural justice (Indigenous histories,  displacement of marginalized communities, ecological histories, urban planning) 

  • Promote individualization and belonging by all