Construction

Modular construction is used to build private school in Brooklyn

163 building blocks were made in Pennsylvania and shipped to New York to help form the facility
May 5, 2015

Modular construction is being used to build the $40 million, 100,000-square-foot home for BASIS Independent Brooklyn, a private school near the New York Bay waterfront.

Much of the five-story building has been constructed 145 miles to the west in New Holland, Pa., the Commercial Observer reports.

The school, which will house 1,000 students, has already opened for grades K-8 and plans to add high school grades. The campus will feature abundant indoor and outdoor learning spaces with views of lower Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty and New York Bay.

NRB, a firm in Ephrata, Pa., has made 163 modular-building blocks that, attached to each other, stand five stories tall. The project used more than two million pounds of steel for framing and 614 cubic yards of concrete for floors. Costs to ship the pieces to New York exceeded $1 million.

To comply with post-Hurricane Sandy construction guidelines, the school had to be raised 16 feet off the ground. While the two classroom towers were being built in Pennsylvania, some of the facility—the parking garage, the gymnasium and the auditorium—were built on site using modular construction.

The architect is Carhuff + Cueva.

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