Canal Crossing Charter School Campus
BelovED Charter School & Empowerment Academy
Four-school campus inspired by local geography will craft a community of learning through access to nature and shared indoor and outdoor amenities.
Canal Crossing Charter School Campus
BelovED Charter School & Empowerment Academy
Jersey City, NJ
266,000 SF
The Opportunity
Envisioned as a community anchor, the new K-12 campus will be a place of connection. The new campus will house four schools—BelovED Elementary School, Middle School, and High School, as well as Empowerment Academy High School—in a series of interconnected forms spanning five stories. Located within the Canal Crossing Redevelopment, the project is sited on an elongated property with extreme topography and bounded by the former Morris Canal, now a planned 111-mile greenway path. This adjacency, in addition to several outdoor spaces throughout the campus, will connect the project to nature to create an urban oasis. A student commons housing shared amenities such as a multipurpose room, kitchen, gymnasium, and auditorium/theater will create an interior oasis for students of all four schools and the community as a whole.
Our Approach
The design is inspired by the former Morris Canal, a technological marvel known for its use of water-driven ramps, referred to as inclined planes, to facilitate significant elevation change. In addition, the steep geography of the nearby New Jersey Palisades inspired the team to create a long, slim mass that rises out of the narrow site. Opportunities for outdoor space are carved from the structure including a playfield, central green, amphitheater, and a fourth-floor terrace with views to the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan. Currently in Construction Documents, the new campus is estimated to be completed by the end of 2027.
Program
Elementary school, middle school, and two high schools, parking garage, play fields, playgrounds, bus parking, shared indoor and outdoor amenities
