Gottesman RTW Academy Case Study

CASE STUDYGOTTEMSAN RTW ACADEMY

PREVIOUS A HERITAGE OF JEWISH CULTUREBUILDING Gottesman RTW Academy (GRTWA) was founded in 1967 and serves PROJECT INFORMATION approximately 225 children from early childhood education through eighth grade. To achieve the school’s mission of academic excellence and Location: Randolph, New Jersey nurturing students in an environment infused with the thoughtfulness Program: K-8, early childhood education & richness of Jewish life, KSS designed the new 48,000 sf educational Size: 48,000 sf facility with emphasis on connectivity with the environment, Features: Classrooms, Sanctuary, Auditorium sustainability, community, Jewish culture, and flexibility in dynamic learning environments. Emerging from the highest point on the hill top, the new school rises from the glacier-formed bedrock below. The exterior concrete alludes to the stone walls of Jerusalem, while vertical wooden slats filter light through the common space, echoing the surrounding landscape of mature trees—carefully preserved during construction. 60-75% of energy consumed by GRTWA is provided by a rooftop solar photovoltaic system and tracked by a display near the science center.

INSPIRATION EDUCATIONALLY INNOVATIVE At the heart of this project is an intimate understanding of how Gottesman RTW Academy infuses learning, nature, and community with the Jewish faith: • Cream-colored cement panels clad the exterior in an aesthetic that emulates Israel’s Western Wall—the school has even the same number of courses as the Western Wall does at its highest point. The color of the façade was matched to on-site rock outcroppings. • Included in the exterior facade of the gym is a stone that emulates the Western Stone, the monolithic mass that is the largest stone in the Western Wall. Historically one of the largest building blocks in the world, the Western Stone is one of the heaviest objects ever lifted by people without powered machinery—evoking it at the base of the gymnasium wall is a nod to both perspiration and inspiration. • Twelve small and humble square punch windows are scattered throughout the project, reflecting the twelve tribes of Israel.



LEARNING A PLACE WHERE NATURE AND NURTURE GO HAND-IN-HAND INVESTIGATE EXPERIMENT COLLABORATE Nature transcends boundaries in the form of Gottesman’sACTIVIT Y NUT approach to food for meals and food for thought. The RITION Judaic concept of “tikkun olam”, repairing the world, FAITH is expressed in the project’s approach to the methods VEG. GARDEN ENVIROMENTAL KITCHEN in which students learn about the natural cycle from COMPOST DINING planting, to harvest, to cooking and composting. SCIENCE SUSTAINABILITY • The farm-to-table experience begins with an aromatic garden for growing vegetables and traditional ceremonial HEALTH herbs. An outdoor classroom in its own right, the garden area is where the seeds of intentional and thoughtful learning about the cultural relationship to both land and food is cultivated. • Two kitchens, to maintain kosher processes, serve as a central gathering location in the building, in essence the “hearth and home”. • Near the kitchens and garden is a compost area where students can participate in the process of breaking down organic matter into humus that can be remixed into the garden soil.LEARNING NUTRITION ACTIVITY

AMONG BOULDERS AND FORESTS At Gottesman RT lationship to theAt Gottesman RTW Academy, “tikkun olam” extends further into expression:the design's relationship to the site. The natural environment is the • The buildinbuilding's parti, its highest expression: glacially carved r • The massin• The building's wings are masterfully arranged to resemble the care—and the aisurrounding glacially carved rock masses, tucked gracefully into an art studio, diningexisting stand of birch trees. • The sanctu the woods below• The massing is organized around four “boulder” cores—classrooms aesthetic that evand daycare—and the airy, transparent “woods” that make up • Respectingcommunity spaces—kitchen, art studio, dining room, and atrium. inch by inch to p were relocated a• The sanctuary, at the front of the building, opens onto an expansive further includesview of the woods below, yet remains protected, with wooden slatsfiltering the light in an aesthetic that evokes light sifting throughleaves.• Respecting the Judaic relationship with nature, the building planwas shifted inch by inch to preserve existing trees—the half-dozenthat couldn't be built around were relocated and replanted asimportant features of the landscape. The design further includesplants sacred to the Jewish faith, such as fig trees.

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MATERIALS AND REUSE • Several large boulders were uncovered on the site during excavation—they were• The new parking lots are strung like the cleaned and reused for landscaping at thebeads on a necklace along the looping front of the school to both preserve theirentry drive. Greenspace in the center of relationship to the site and as a passivethe loops acts as a raingarden, cleaning the security measure to protect the buildingwater before it runs off, respecting the high and envelop it in nature.standards of the highlands and neighboring • The previous approach to the school haddistricts attention to water flow. an indirect, roundabout trajectory, resulting in an arriver having to climb down into the• 75% of the school’s power originates school. The design situates the new buildingfrom rooftop solar panels—this is directly at a crest of a hill nestled in the woods.incorporated into the learning process, with The existing driveway is maintained, anda readout panel permanently mounted existing parking lots were converted to aoutside the science room, allowing students field.to track progress.

A FOUNDATION OF COMMUNITY • Recognizing that 70% of learning occurs outside the classroom, the design capitalizesIn reflecting on educational experiences, on spaces that offer a unique approach tothe majority of adults remember their growth and self-actualization—the projectcommunities more so than any more is sprinkled with both formal and informalformal school structure. The foundation of outdoor learning spaces, interior atria andthe Academy’s tight-knit and supportive study nooks.family community is the knowledge and • The sanctuary is designed as a space thatvalues that are nurtured in this learning enriches community, not only for morningenvironment. The design directly supports prayer, but for lifelong milestones—bar andthis overlap of school and community: bat mitzfahs and wedding ceremonies. • Other spaces in the school also can support• As one enters the building, one is part of larger community events like these—thethe transparent, glassed-in “forest” space, large commercially outfitted kitchens, thewith views to the open art space, library, airy, graceful atria, the outdoor spaces thatsanctuary, and upstairs to the science room. open onto picturesque vistas are naturalThis vista harkens a natural one, where extensions of spaces for celebration.community is visible and vibrant.

MULTI-FUNCTIONAL DESIGNThe overlap of Judaic and secular learning is expressed throughintuitive, multi-functional design at every scale:• The secondary prayer space doubles as a library, conjuringJudaism’s value “houses of knowledge”. A small bookshelf oncaster wheels serves as the mechitza, partitioning the prayerspace within the functional context of the library.• Nestled against larger classrooms are smaller break-out spacesfor study groups and Judaic study lessons.• The only design feature that is Judaic and unilaterally functionalis the ark—the sacred space in the sanctuary that holds theTorah. Gottesman's ark is a hand-milled wood sculpture, evokingthe boulders defining the school's aesthetic identity.





A REFUGE FOR LEARNINGSafety has become of utmost importancefor schools. Gottesman RTW Academy'sdesign integrates both structural andoperational measures that proactivelysecure the building and its occupants:• Several large boulders were uncoveredon the site during excavation. In place ofbollards, they were cleaned and situated asa passive security measure to protect thebuilding and envelop it in nature. Scatteredacross the entryway, the massive bouldersare arranged in such that they protect thefront facade and entry.• The very wooden slats that bedeck theglass walls of the community spaces andwindows of the building—the slates thatfilter the light and render those spaces“forests”—preserve the privacy of theinterior.• The sanctuary, situated at the front of theschool, needed additional protection—astand of birch trees was planted to furthervisibility from the outside and provide agrounding tether to nature. The sanctuarybenches are intentionally a solid, substantialfurnishing that are deliberately designedand arranged with the capacity to concealstudents and teachers.• The breakout rooms that skirt the largerclassrooms act as safe spaces that disruptlarger open spaces and offer protectedrefuge.• Security cameras are gently and discreetlytucked into the building.

“Gottesman Academy has been the thread that binds my family’s moral fiber.” - Parent at Gottesman



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