The Blue School Doubles Capacity With New Building Expansion

FINANCIAL DISTRICT, NY — The Blue School in the Seaport District has expanded into a state-of-the-art Williams Street building that will allow the progressive private school to double its student body in the coming years, according to school officials.

The new building at 156 Williams Street is dedicated to the institution's fourth through eighth grade students and is just six blocks from the school's long-time 241 Water Street location, which was reconfigured to serve the pre-primary program through third grade.

Some 300 students attend the school that began in 2006 as a play group for children of performers from the Blue Man Group. Now, the school — which not until the 2015-16 school year expanded to include sixth, seventh and eighth grades — is doubling the school's capacity to roughly 600 students with its Williams Street expansion. School officials expect to the reach that number over the next decade.

The expansion drastically beefs up the school's facilities, but also broadens education opportunities for the area's students, said the school's head educator.

"We now have a building that is dedicated to older students and designed with them in mind," said Gina Farrar, the head of school at the Blue School. “We’re also excited about expanding in the community — in a community that is growing so rapidly that is such a great place for kids — and increasing the opportunity for kids to have different experiences."

The four-story, 45,000-square-foot building was designed by the Rockwell Group with flexible classroom space including a commons area — where Brooklyn Grange is curating a microgreens garden for students to learn about botany — a two-story library and a gymnasium that doubles as an auditorium. Architects designed the building with the school's emphasis on collaborative learning in mind, dotting spaces for group activities throughout the building.

A STEAM lab is also featured in a new space that provides a twist on STEM learning — Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics — by incorporating the arts.

"We think it's very important to keep the A for art in there," said Ashley Hughes, the Blue School's director of operations. "We encourage that cross integration."

For instance, seventh graders studying the history of the industrial revolution will use the lab's workshops to explore the science behind the period, and will also design models of cities exploring ways to improve social and infrastructure issues, said Hughes.

The school also aims to use the new commons for community events down the road, noted Farrar.

"It's beautiful, inspiring space that's wonderful for the school, but we also think it's wonderful for the community," she said.

Photos courtesy of the Blue School