The Berkeley Carroll School

Project Details

Project Description

When the Brooklyn-based private PreK-12 school Berkeley Carroll set out to add a much-needed performance/auditorium space to its Park Slope campus, it turned to an unlikely location: a nearby church built back in 1936. To transform the dusty and underused spaces of an 80-year-old church into a top-of-the-class performance space, the school turned to 1100 Architect, a New York-based firm with a roster of different adaptive reuse work and a portfolio of different learning environments.

The design reimagines what had been a single-purpose sanctuary into a dynamic and contemporary performance spaces that can accommodate 400 audience members. New features include tiered seating, a lighting grid, and a control room on the second floor. The stage can be reconfigured for multiple arrangements, from small lectures and music recitals to multi-media audio-visual performances. By removing a pre-existing stage, the new design allows for greater flexibility, and it also renders the space fully ADA-compliant and better connects it with back-of-house spaces.

Custom curtains darken the environment, while acoustic treatments, designed in conjunction with consultants Fisher Dachs Associates and Lally Acoustical Consultants, make the room a highly-performing space. In what had been a non-air-conditioned space, new energy-efficient HVAC systems make for a more comfortable year-round environment.