What would a K-12 education look like with social and environmental justice at its heart? Along the tidal shores of Jamaica Bay at Floyd Bennett Field, the Launch School—a public charter school located in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn—envisions a new 7-acre campus with experiential learning, anti-racism, climate action, and food justice as key aspects of its core curriculum.
Developed collaboratively by SCAPE, Architecture Research Office (ARO), and Colloqate with The Launch School’s close-knit community and partner network, the vision proposes a 21st-century campus organized around a series of connective outdoor hallways that knit together buildings and learning landscapes—a model for experiential learning in New York.
The school’s mission of “learning by doing” is threaded through every aspect of the vision—including a refurbished and modernized central building, an urban farm and outdoor classroom, a harvest and sensory garden, a greenhouse with hydroponics, a ropes course and series of sport courts, a central community hall, and spaces for outdoor art, teaching, performance, and exploration.
Today, the Launch School’s only campus is located in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn—home to many students who have been systematically excluded from opportunities leading to green jobs. At the Launch School at Floyd Bennett Field, students will engage directly with these issues through hands-on learning alongside partnered organizations. Programming also builds on active efforts by a wide range of institutions including The Campaign Against Hunger, EL Education, Transcend Education, Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy, New York Sun Works, Billion Oyster Project, Solar One, NYC Outward Bound Schools, and Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay.
Learn more:
Client
- The Launch School
Collaborators
Architecture Research Office (Architecture)
Colloqate (Design Justice)
