As part of their revitalization efforts, the City of Newark is welcoming quality charter schools into their communities. The TEAM Charter Schools, a Network of the nationally-renowned KIPP Schools, needed guidance on starting a school from the ground up. KSS worked with the organization throughout planning and design, including: identifying and evaluating more than 20 sites; estimating project costs; analyzing zoning requirements, site amenities/constraints, and building conditions and configurations; and programming and designing several schools.

In Newark's central wards, an underserved area with great cultural resources and city services, a prominent site located across from City Hall presented a strategic, long-term opportunity for TEAM Schools. Spanning two adjacent multistory former office buildings, the adaptive reuse will serve as a swing space school. Initially the building will serve up to 500 high school students. As TEAM expands its presence in the city, the building will transition into a middle and elementary school, offering young students a plethora of in-house amenities to which they may lack access in their current schools.

To combine two disparate multitenant buildings of different construction classes into a cohesive school, KSS resolved complexities associated with egress, accessibility, building code, and bus, student and parent access in an urban neighborhood.