Success Academy’s first ground-up campus brings together elementary, middle, and high school under one roof in the South Bronx—a community historically underserved by public infrastructure. The project establishes a dignified and aspirational new presence for one of the nation’s largest and highest-performing public charter networks. Designed by SOM, the six-story, 310,000-square-foot building is set back from the street to create generous plazas and shaded outdoor areas, making an important contribution to a neighborhood with limited public green space.
On a compact urban site, the landscape design extends the school’s welcoming character from the ground plane upward through four rooftop terraces, each tailored to its age group while maintaining a cohesive, elevated design aesthetic. The terraces are designed for flexibility, accommodating both everyday play and special events, with maximum opportunities for social interaction, low maintenance requirements, and a material palette that complements the custom green-glazed masonry facade. Planted areas throughout the site navigate significant grade changes through deep tree pits and sculpted terrain, threading greenery and outdoor learning space through every level of the campus.
Medgar Evers College Campus Quad
Since its founding in the 1960s, Medgar Evers College has been a central figure and source of pride for Brooklyn’s Bedford Stuyvesant community. Its reinvigoration, spurred by a rapidly expanding student body, began ten years ago with a campus master plan, prepared by Ennead Architects and Thomas Balsley Associates. In addition to new facilities, the plan fore...
Public Safety Answering Center
The landscape is a key component of the PSAC II site. This new five hundred million dollar emergency call center is strategically located in the Bronx, New York and will facilitate emergency response for the City of New York.
An earthern grassland berm completely envelops PSAC II’s architecture and establishes a visual connection between PSAC II and the...
SUNY Albany Uptown Campus
With great respect for Edward Durrell Stone’s 1960s modernist campus, this new master plan redefines the campus’ first impression image and reclaims quads as new venues for an enhanced campus lifestyle. The entry drive encounters a new Collin’s Circle, now raised to the level of the entrance plaza. The earthen plinth engages the plaza entry at the new Ad...
North Shore LIJ Women's Hospital
As part of the North Shore LIJ Medical Center expansion by SOM, Thomas Balsley Associates was commissioned to design a landscape that reflects both the hospital’s commitment to healing and its reputation as a progressive health care institution. Thomas Balsley Associates has proposed two major landscape spaces for the campus. The first of these spaces is a cam...