SchoolHouse
An Educational-Residential Co-op and Community Center for Pennsport Architectural Thesis 2014-2015 By: David Golden Advisor: John Defazio Pennsport, located in south Philadelphia, lost its neighborhood elementary school in the 2013 round of Philadelphia school closings. As the building undergoes privatization, its role within the community changes. SchoolHouse seeks to provide a new model of education in Philadelphia, while allowing a privatized building to serve its neighborhood. The project introduces five different residential developments, phased to not displace current residents. Four of the five are market-rate and low-income units, whose children have reserved space in a new k-12 school, located in the adapted Abigail Vare School. The remaining space in the school is open to the neighborhood. The fifth residential development is reserved for senior citizens, who pay a reduced rate in exchange for volunteering their time at the new Pennsport community center, also located in the adapted Abigail Vare School. The new school and community center share resources with each other, and allow the building to serve the community throughout the year.