Greens Farms Academy is an independent school on Long Island Sound which focuses on PreK-12 education. Founded in 1925, the 40 acre campus has been developed around a re-purposed historic mansion, and due to rising admissions GFA was faced with an inevitable expansion. As part of the overall campus expansion, Brown Sardina provided master planning services to develop site alternatives for site circulation, parking, site selection, and large open spaces for five new classroom buildings in two phases of development.
A new circulation pattern efficiently organizes the parking and drop-off sequences while highlighting the new and existing architecture. Proposed classroom buildings intentionally frame an immense quad which overlooks the sound and is host to the multiple outdoor school activities. Materials were selected to celebrate the historic architecture and the era when it was constructed. Stone walls and dense existing trees frame a network of interconnected roof decks, outdoor amphitheaters, courtyards, and new terraces which encourage outdoor classrooms and congregation.