Harlem RBI Dream Charter School Roofscape

The Harlem RBI Dream Charter School courtyard and rooftop classroom are learning landscapes for an inspiring charter school in East Harlem, New York. Located adjacent to SCAPE’s Blake Hobbs Play-za, the Dream School landscape expands the range of outdoor learning environments available to the school. An elevated rooftop classroom provides a stage for outdoor class demonstrations and lectures, raised beds for science classes, and a viewing garden of textured bands of grasses. At the site level, the everyday experience of walking to school is injected with educational and environmental experiences, including a thickly planted stormwater collection bioswale, native plant palette, and patterned permeable pavement. A strong indoor-outdoor relationship is created at the building edge and generates a space that is always interesting to observe, juxtaposing indoor gymnasium sports with outdoor bird and insect life.