{"id":368870,"date":"2026-10-09T12:56:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T12:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/368870\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T12:56:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T12:56:16","slug":"school-of-the-future-som-designs-new-bronx-k-12-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/368870\/","title":{"rendered":"School of the Future: SOM Designs New Bronx K-12 Campus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill<\/a> (SOM) joins Success Academy (SA) to celebrate the opening of the new Bronx K-12 Campus, the public charter network\u2019s first ground-up, purpose-built school building. Designed by SOM as a \u201cschool of the future,\u201d the campus brings elementary, middle, and high school together in a unified enterprise to support schooling innovation, deliver college preparedness, and demonstrate a new K-12 model of educational excellence.<\/p>\n

SA, one of the nation\u2019s largest and highest-performing public charter networks, educates 22,000 students, primarily children of color from low-income backgrounds, across 60 New York City schools. For twenty years, SA has proven that all children are capable of excellence when provided access to high-quality, rigorous education. <\/p>\n

\"SOM\"SOM<\/p>\n

\t\tDave Burk \u00a9 SOM<\/p>\n

SA\u2019s pass rates on the New York State exams are nearly double those of New York City and New York State. For nine consecutive years, 100% of SA\u2019s graduates have been accepted to four-year colleges, many to highly selective institutions.<\/p>\n

The new campus embodies SA\u2019s commitment to educational equity and access and represents a long-term commitment to the Bronx. The new campus, located in the South Bronx, will serve 2,400 scholars each year, with the goal of educating some of New York City\u2019s poorest children with the highest levels of excellence in public education.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we envisioned this campus, our goal was to create a space as exceptional as the learning happening within it,\u201d said Eva Moskowitz, Founder and CEO of Success Academy. \u201cSOM brought that vision to life with skill and care, giving our scholars and educators the beautiful, world-class campus they deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SOM\"SOM<\/p>\n

\t\tDave Burk \u00a9 SOM<\/p>\n

\"SOM\"SOM<\/p>\n

\t\tDave Burk \u00a9 SOM<\/p>\n

The architecture draws on the surrounding neighborhood while establishing a landmark for public education. The facade reinterprets the classic brick schoolhouse through contemporary design, while the building\u2019s massing varies in height to respond to the context and scale of the site. <\/p>\n

The high school occupies the lower levels, with middle and elementary grades above, each accessed through distinct, landscaped ground-floor entrances. This stacked arrangement admits daylight deep into the interior and creates multiple rooftop terraces for outdoor learning and play. With more than 300,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space, the campus enhances a sense of openness and connection to the outdoors.<\/p>\n

\"SOM\"SOM<\/p>\n

\t\tDave Burk \u00a9 SOM<\/p>\n

\u201cThe South Bronx campus shows what is possible when innovative design is harnessed to advance a bold educational mission,\u201d said SOM Partner Colin Koop. \u201cThe team was asked to design a \u2018school of the future\u2019 that would define a new model of K-12 educational excellence. This project delivers on that opportunity by reconsidering how architecture can support a culture of mentorship, community, arts, athletics, and college preparedness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SOM\"SOM<\/p>\n

\t\tDave Burk \u00a9 SOM<\/p>\n

At the center of the design is the \u201cscholar spine,\u201d a multilevel corridor that runs the full length of the building. Part gallery, part collaboration hub, it features breakout alcoves, flexible workspaces, and writable surfaces that showcase student work and support interdisciplinary learning. As a shared space for all grade levels, the spine reinforces SA\u2019s culture of mentorship and community.<\/p>\n

To support a holistic education, the building offers a wide range of specialized environments: lecture halls, dance studios, a 300-seat auditorium, a futsal court, a gymnasium, and more. These spaces mirror collegiate and professional settings, encouraging scholars to explore beyond traditional classrooms, on stage, in studios, and on the court. Classrooms are designed with flexibility to accommodate evolving pedagogical needs.<\/p>\n

\"SOM\"SOM<\/p>\n

\t\tDave Burk \u00a9 SOM<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw the project as an opportunity to also strengthen the surrounding neighborhood,\u201d said SOM<\/a> Partner Laura Ettelman. \u201cWe intentionally set the building back from the street to create generous plazas, landscaping, and shaded outdoor areas that provide a welcoming presence and much-needed public space for the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The building is fully electric and incorporates robust sustainability and resiliency strategies, including water-efficient systems, native plantings, heat-island reduction, and locally sourced healthful materials, to support the project\u2019s LEED Gold certification target.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) joins Success Academy (SA) to celebrate the opening of the new Bronx K-12…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":368871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-368870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}