new design high school

This afternoon I made a visit to the New Design High School in the Lower East Side. The school was a co-located public school sharing the space with 3 other schools. It seemed that there was a different school on every floor. This meant that the auditorium and gymnasium on the ground floor were shared by the whole building, and the schools use them in rota.

However, Scott Conti, the founder of the school has a different vision for the New Design High School. Wanting to optimise other funds, such as the support of donors, and the contribution of the wider community (collaborations with artists and events organisers), he wanted to make the school design-focused. This means that he is currently in the process in making sure that each room in the school has a considered design, be it a meeting room with bespoke furniture, a shared working space with a coffee bar for both staff and students to use, or hallways covered with murals done by professional artists. This school certainly looks different from the rest even though it is in a deprived area with students who more often than not are from underprivileged backgrounds.

Of course, the most unique space in the building is 'The Rooftop' an open-air floor on top of the building that occupies the entire block. With trusses, exposed brick, open windows, and a almost every wall covered with murals, this space has become popular not only as a space for the schools to use, but as an event space for the wider community. Conti frequently rents out the roof space for music events, fashion shows, and sponsored collaborations with creatives out of school hours. This money then goes towards improving the school's interior. Not only does this elevate the school as a creative centre, it often also allows the students to have exposure to people in the industry - which is an exciting opportunity for a public school, considering that there is often very limited funding for the arts in NYC.