Grand Concourse Academy

Designed as a haven for children, this ground-up state-of-the-art facility houses the top-performing Grand Concourse Academy, a K-8 Turner-Agassi Charter School in South Bronx, New York City.  

The campus serves 800 students in an approximate 50,000 SF steel-framed building consisting of a gymnasium, cafeteria, classrooms, a library/tech room, music/art room, a science lab, bathrooms, administrative offices and mechanical rooms. Spaces within and outside the building such as an ampitheater, interactive community garden, sandbox and early learners play area facilitate both independent and group learning.

Specialties include new gymnasium equipment, kitchen equipment, smartboards, markerboards, lockers, recessed table and bench systems as well as a new custom playground with a half basketball court, playground equipment and a rubber surface running track that encircles the school building. 

Purposefully-designed staggered windows add life and perpetuate movement over the length of the building exterior. These triple-glazed windows, in combination with 4” thick EIFS, yield a hyper-efficient building envelope with an R-value of 35, eliminating the need for perimeter heating.

Finishes include custom millwork cabinetry, exterior metal panels, glass windows, storefronts and glass railings, ACT ceilings throughout, ceramic stone and tile, carpet and polished concrete, multipurpose athletic surfacing in the gymnasium with a Canadian maple finish and painting. 

Complexities of the project included the construction of a new roadway for access to the school, with a new Builders Pavement Plan and associated new utility services, as well as a staff parking lot.