The Laffite Greenway, in the neighborhood Tremé/Lafitte, is the only large green public space adjacent to majority black communities in the city of New Orleans. Our task was to create a school on it. Not wanting to take away any green space with a structure, we decided to peel the ground up to “unearth” a school dedicated to environmental education. The green roof creates a seamless transition with the rest of the park, and thus the building introduces virtually no impermeable space.

Developed for a studio led by Benjamin Smith.