Kearny Board of Education
Franklin School Multi-Purpose Room

The Kearny Board of Education’s 1960’s Franklin School is a sprawling structure with four levels that steps down a 30 ft hillside with interesting geometries and forms, but with no intermediate connection between its north and south wings.

Design Challenges

• Resolve the school’s complicated geometry
• Improve circulation in a large sprawling school
• Provide barrier free access with a 5 ft change in grade
• Set the building within a 30 ft sloping hillside

Design Approach

• Complement existing geometries and vocabulary to create interesting forms and spaces
• Set the addition into the hillside to reduce its mass
• Create North and South Halls as organizing elements which connect the distant parts of the school
• Use a curved rood structure with a clerestory to make the space interesting, light and airy
• Use a lively color palette and a variety of textures to accentuate the architecture