Bronx, N.Y., turns a dilapidated warehouse into state-of-the-art school campus

No stranger to the Bronx, N.Y., neighborhood that is home to the new $52 million Bathgate Educational Campus would ever know that the colorful, vibrant school was once a rundown warehouse.

The 140,000-sf campus houses 1,300 students across four schools. The Building Team, led by local architect John Ciardullo Associates, left the footprint of the existing warehouse and built a second story, in part by extending the original steel beams. The team then reconfigured separate entrances—with dedicated staircase towers and second-story, skylit lobbies—for each school. Each school also has its own classrooms, science labs, and administrative offices.

The ground floor, which includes a 6,000-sf recreation room, library, cafeteria, art studios, and music rooms, is shared by all the schools.