PS 234, the Independence School, is a K through 5 facility located at 292 Greenwich Street in the TriBeCa neighborhood of downtown Manhattan.

The purpose of the walkway is to connect the main PS 234 building, a three story brick building completed in 1988, with a kindergarten Annex, also designed by Macrae-Gibson architects and completed in 2008. The Annex is located in the adjacent 30-story aluminum and glass condominium building at 200 Chambers Street. It includes space for 129 kindergarten students.

The Annex is separated from the main building by a play yard. The new walkway provides shelter from the elements as kindergarteners and teachers pass from one part of the school to the other. It is also used by the other children to access the play yard from the main building.

Since the play yard is located 4’ 6” below the level of the school, the walkway incorporates a ramp, thus additionally providing handicap accessibility to the play yard and kindergarten Annex.

The walkway is L-shaped, following the outline of the property, and consists of a steel framed structure varying in height from 12 to 20 feet that rests on a concrete base which forms the ramp. The structure is made of 4” x 4” red painted steel posts with red painted steel connecting beams, and is roofed with a standing seam red metal roof.

The structure is enclosed with rectangular and trapezoidal powder coated perforated metal panels in four colors: dark blue, light grey, light blue and turquoise. The panels are arranged in a rhythmic undulating pattern that produces triangular slivers of space in the facades.

Views into the play yard as well as through the structure itself are offered by this arrangement, resulting in a light, playful structure expressive of movement: both the movement of the children as well as the dynamism the city itself.