Building a sustainable city. Teachers Village by Richard Meier & Partners Architects

The City of Newark and State of New Jersey are aggressively luring business to the region. Some of the incentives include tax credits for job creation, property tax abatements in exchange...

Richard Meier & Partners Architects has completed its project in Newark, New Jersey. The new urban project will house two charter schools and residential buildings of the Teachers Village project, a mixed-use development that is revitalizing a large portion of the city’s downtown and promises to spur future urban growth. 230 Halsey Street has been designed with bright classrooms full of natural light to promote learning and it is intended to become the center of an active, 24-hour neighborhood.

Description of project by Richard Meier & Partners Architects

Teachers Village is a mixed-use development envisioned for downtown Newark south of Market Street and west of Broad Street. It will encompass six new buildings, including Workforce Housing, Charter Schools and small to mid-scale retail located along Halsey Street between Branford Street and Hill Street. These elements will provide 200 residential units for teachers, three charter schools, a daycare center and a variety of retail spaces at street level. Sustainable design, new landscaping and streetscape improvements are integral to the goal of creating an exemplary development for a flourishing community in Newark.

Each new building is site specific and designed relative to its context. Street wall heights are regulated in accordance with the Newark Living Downtown Plan and provide a rich variety of street conditions. The new Halsey Street retail corridor is at the heart of the development and offers a mix of venues for vibrant street life. The residential spaces and schools are designed with generous windows that are open to the light and activity of the streets below. As required by the Newark Living Downtown Plan, all of the new building fronts facing Halsey Street are four-stories tall, not exceeding 60-feet in height. As permitted by zoning regulations, the buildings setback from Halsey Street above 60-feet grow in height, reaching a maximum of 6-stories.

Teachers Village is one of the first developments in America to pursue the LEED Neighborhood Development designation by the US Green Building Council, indicating that the project meets the highest levels of sustainable design and that the neighborhood integrates the principles of smart growth, urbanism and green building strategies. Former parking lots are transformed into a sustainable new neighborhood that offers its teacher residents opportunities to live where they work and to experience high-quality healthy living in an affordable, safe environment downtown. The development is conveniently located to benefit from Newark’s efficient public transportation system, from extensive local and regional bus lines to a short walk to the Washington Street light rail and Newark Penn Station, hub for NJTRANSIT, AMTRAK trains and PATH train service to Manhattan.

Teachers Village will restore a sense of place by activating the streetscape, along Halsey and William Streets, attracting residents, students, and visitors to this dynamic new community and to the existing cultural, entertainment and educational infrastructure with institutions such as the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark School for the Arts, the NJ Historical Society, Newark Museum, the main branch of the Newark Public Library and the Prudential Center Arena. Access to open space for Teachers Village residents includes proximity to three city parks and community gardens. Surrounded by six universities with a community of 50,000 people, each with its own library and cultural facilities, there is potential for collaboration between Teachers Village and the surrounding corporate and academic community.

The Teachers Village neighborhood is the piece of the puzzle that completes the picture of a healthy, vital downtown, creating a 24/7 environment and destination for diverse populations to linger and enjoy what downtown Newark can offer.

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View of Residential Building VI and VII from Washington Street. Photograph © Scott Frances

View from Halsey Street looking north. Photograph © Scott Frances

Southwest corner of Residential Building I from Halsey Street. Photograph © Scott Frances

Residential Building VII north facade detail and entrance. Photograph © Scott Frances

Residential Building VI south facade detail. Photograph © Scott Frances

Entrance detail to the charter schools and connecting bridge. Photograph © Paul Rivera

230 Halsey Steet facade detail. Photograph © Scott Frances

View looking south and entrance to the Residential Building VI and the charter schools on Halsey. Photograph © Scott Frances

Main circulation stairs between the charter schools. Photograph © Paul Rivera

Skylight and bridge detail at the charter schools. Photograph © Paul Rivera

Rooftop and playground area at the charter schools. Photograph © Paul Rivera

Natural light filtering through the common gymnasium at the charter schools. Photograph © Paul Rivera

Gymnasium detail. Photograph © Paul Rivera

Apartment view. Photograph © Scott Frances

Sunset view of the charter schools and the residential building along Halsey Street looking North. Photograph © Scott Frances

Entrance to the charter schools. Photograph © Paul Rivera

View of gymnasium and school at night. Photograph © Paul Rivera

Teachers Village Sustainability Diagram Site. Image courtesy of Richard Meier Architects.

Teachers Village Sustainability Diagram building. Image courtesy of Richard Meier Architects.

Teachers Village Site plan. Image courtesy of Richard Meier Architects.

Teachers Village Ground floor plan. Image courtesy of Richard Meier Architects.

Teachers Village First floor plan. Image courtesy of Richard Meier Architects.

Teachers Village South elevation. Image courtesy of Richard Meier Architects.

Teachers Village East elevation. Image courtesy of Richard Meier Architects.

Teachers Village West elevation. Image courtesy of Richard Meier Architects.

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More information

RICHARD MEIER

Richard Meier is well known and respected around the world for his architecture and designs. He has been awarded major commissions in the United States and Europe including courthouses, city halls, museums, corporate headquarters, housing and private residences. Some of his best-known projects include The Getty Center in Los Angeles, the High Museum in Atlanta, the Frankfurt Museum for Decorative Arts in Germany, the Canal Plus Television Headquarters in Paris, the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, The Hartford Seminary in Connecticut, and the Atheneum in New Harmony, Indiana.

Recognized with the highest honors available in architecture, in 1997 he received the AIA Gold Medal from the American Institute of Architects as well as the Praemium Imperiale from the Japanese Government, in recognition of a lifetime achievement in the arts. In 1995, he was elected Fellow to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He received the Deutscher Architekture Preis in 1993 and in 1992 the French Government awarded him with the honor of Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and in 1989, the Royal Institute of British Architects, of which he is a Fellow, awarded him the Royal Gold Medal.

In 1984, Mr. Meier was awarded the Pritzker Prize for Architecture, considered the field's highest honor. He was the youngest recipient of this award in the history of the prize. In the same year, Mr. Meier was selected architect for the prestigious commission to design the $1 billion Getty Center in Los Angeles, California.

Since receiving his architectural education at Cornell University, he has been awarded honorary degrees from the University of Naples, New Jersey Institute of Technology, The New School for Social Research, Pratt Institute and the University of Bucharest.

Mr. Meier has given numerous lectures throughout the world and participated in many juries. He has written and been the subject of many books and monographs and innumerable newspaper and magazine articles. In addition to being on the Board of Directors of the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum and the American Academy in Rome, he is also a Fellow of the French and Belgian Academies d'Architecture, and a member of the Bund Deutscher Architekten and the American Academy of Arts & Letters, from which he received the Brunner Prize for Architecture in 1976.

Mr. Meier has taught at Cooper Union, Princeton University, Pratt Institute, Harvard University, Yale University and UCLA. He currently holds the Frank T. Rhodes Class of 1956 University Professorship at Cornell University. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and received a Medal of Honor from the New York Chapter in 1980 and the Gold Medal from the Los Angeles Chapter in 1998. His numerous design awards include 29 National AIA Honor Awards and 53 Regional AIA Design Awards.

Published on: February 17, 2017

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