P.S. 64 has been defined by an unusually long period of abandonment and decay. Portions of physical building material have begun to migrate into the surrounding neighborhood as the building dissolves, leaving the historic building exposed and hyper-public. During this period of abandonment, the building shell has been used in an ad hoc way to meet changing needs of the community, operating as a dance studio, community organizing space, and art exhibit area. The new P.S. 64 lends pieces of the physical masonry building—informed by close consideration of the historical buildup and construction methods—back to the neighborhood to create stand-alone pieces of the program made from reconstituted masonry that can operate individually after hours, or together during the school day to create a community campus.
