Central Queens Academy (CQA) Charter School serves the multiethnic, multicultural, and multilingual communities of Elmhurst, Corona, and Woodside in New York City. It prepares students for success in education, the workforce, and the community through a school that integrates literacy, standards-based academics, and culturally responsive supportive services.

Nearly a decade ago, CQA approached us to find a permanent home to consolidate their campuses and expand their capabilities. Beginning in 2011 as a startup school in a highly overcrowded school district, we have guided CQA's facility strategy, providing expertise on site evaluation and renovation, program design, and construction management services, and have helped them open three school facilities.

The current scenario of the NYC real estate market presents an interesting urban overlay. On one hand, the podiums of many residential buildings, originally intended for retail, are partially vacant. On the other hand, charter schools have a real need for affordable, conveniently located space and the mechanisms to finance it. Just north of Queens Boulevard, these two realities converge: the new 85,000-square-foot CQA campus occupies the base of a residential tower in Elmhurst. The space is designed to house both their 400-student current roster in grades 5-8, as well as a new 500-student K-4 elementary school.

The design challenge revolves around organizing a massive, 35,000-square-foot floor plate, much of which lacks exterior windows. To address this, classrooms are positioned along the perimeter of the large wedge-shaped floorplates, where windows allow natural light to reach the grade classrooms. The campus is then ordered into a series of villages, made up of clusters of classrooms and "Commons"--spaces for larger community gatherings and structured and unstructured group learning. Situated in one of New York City's most diverse school districts, these Commons serve as the heart of CQA, fostering creative engagement among students from up to 30 different nations, transcending the boundaries of traditional classroom learning.

Each Commons has a distinct identity, featuring playful yet non-prescriptive elements: green 'grass' turf floors for jumping up and down; a 20-foot-long white board that doubles as a movie screen; amphitheater seating with nooks for books and shoes; and a Crossroads Commons for informal conversations with faculty and friends on the way to class.

Special classrooms line the interior side of the corridors and Commons, including acoustically isolated music rooms, well-lit and thoughtfully organized science labs, and playful, light-filled art and dance rooms. At street level, movable curtains around a multipurpose cafeteria and flexible spaces can be adjusted to create smaller learning environments or fully open arrangements for all-school assembly or lunch service. A wide stair with school-color-coded structure leads students from the cafeteria up into the special world of CQA.