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.
Columbia University Landscape Master Plan
As part of a larger development framework plan by Beyer Blinder Belle Architects, Thomas Balsley Associates was commissioned to prepare a landscape master plan for this important historical campus.
The work began with extensive historical research into the original McKim Mead & White plan and Olmsted writings as well as an assessment of current camp...
Tampa Museum of Art
The new Tampa Museum of Art by Stanley Saitowitz is set within the city’s arts district whose master plan was prepared by Thomas Balsley Associates and also includes Performing Arts Center, Children’s Museum, Riverwalk, and the centerpiece Curtis Hixon Park. The museum is dramatically sited on a plinth overlooking its companion park and the Hillsborough River....
Leeum Samsung Museum of Art
From its mountainside perch overlooking Seoul, the Samsung Museum of Art Complex boasts museums by three of the world’s most sought-after architects: Rem Koolhaas, Jean Nouvel and Mario Botta. Uniting these remarkable yet divergent works of architecture is a space of clean and powerful gestures. This elegant, understated landscape serves as their matrix and mu...
Medgar Evers College
This new quad provides a unifying pedestrian connection between Bedford and Franklin Avenues and between existing and new campus buildings, finally providing the campus with a cohesive identity and sense of place. With the dramatic transformation of a parking lot into more campus green space comes the opportunity to integrate a series of sustainability strateg...