Winner: 2024 Honor Award for General Design from the PA-DE Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects

KIPP Philadelphia Preparatory Academy is a public charter school managed by the KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) Foundation and located in Allegheny West, a historically black neighborhood in North Philadelphia. Surrounded by rowhomes and industrial development, the project site spans a city block and includes a three-story brick school building (built in 1913), two small schoolyard areas, and a large parking lot. This community and its urban fabric have suffered from post-industrial decline, and decades of municipal disinvestment. The project involved adaptive reuse of the historic school building, as well as renovation of the site for use by 300+ students in grades 5-8. SALT led design of the sitework, which incorporated spaces for play, learning, recreation, gathering, and staff parking within a broader framework for sustainable development. Through engagement with KIPP stakeholders, a vision emerged to represent KIPP’s values of Joy, Care, Resilience, Excellence, and Activism through a series of overlapping, flexible outdoor rooms that invite play, learning and togetherness. Each design gesture in these two small schoolyards is intentional, precise, and multi-functional.

Collaborators: KSS Architects, Ruggiero Plante Land Design

Photography: © Jeffrey Totaro, 2023.