ORIGINAL CONDITIONS

PHOTOS BY ATELIER PAGNAMENTA TORRIANI

The P.S.80 Thurgood Marshall Magnet School of Multimedia and Communication serves around 400 elementary school students in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, New York and is named after the first African-American Supreme Court Justice.

​

Over time, P.S.80’s library room had become overcrowded with tables, books, and storage, resulting in a cluttered and disorganized environment.

Our design combines two rooms and introduces a clear spatial organization by using custom designed elements to serve as a permeable divider between the classroom area and reading lounge area.  The playful composition of geometric openings in various sizes creates spaces for both books and reading nooks. Additional quiet seating in a more secluded corner offers a balance of semi-private reading spaces to the more open collaborative areas. 

​

Primary colors define the library. Red, yellow and blue beams draw attention to the existing arched ceilings, celebrating the building's original architecture while creating a rhythmic visual progression from the entrance to the back of the space. Indirect lighting highlights the existing pointed ceiling arches.

​

The main entry is framed by a red portal and a large library graphic. The library desk reflects the geometric vocabulary established by the bookshelves through an inverse relationship of positive and negative: while the shelves are defined by open square and rectangular openings, the desk is conceived as a solid volume punctured with recessed geometric shapes and accented in red, yellow and blue.

​

​

This project is part of Atelier Pagnamenta Torriani’s architectural acupuncture interventions: a transformative series of libraries in New York City public schools that are expanding their educational purpose by rebuilding communities through culture.


​

​