Brooklyn Law School

BKSK worked with Brooklyn Law School to reimagine their downtown campus to meet the needs of a leading institution in twenty-first century legal education.

The Masterplan, performed in collaboration with SmithGroup JJR, Phase I included a comprehensive report based on several months of intensive interviews with faculty, administrators and students; and an analysis of existing conditions and benchmarking of Brooklyn Law School’s space use. Focused sessions were conducted on instructional spaces, the law library, faculty areas, legal clinics, administrative areas, and student journal and organizations and events spaces. An in-depth presentation on current developments in law school design was conducted for the law school faculty and staff. This process elicited a productive discussion in regards to meeting the needs of a leading institution in twenty-first century legal education. Phase II included site evaluation of 250 Joralemon in response to the school opting to sell its facility at One Boerum Place and the resulting need to relocate current programming to a new location.

BKSK went on to realize the 30,000 sf expansion in an adjacent building on Livingston Street. The new location consolidates and exposes efficiencies by housing student services and other collaborative workspaces while maintaining a collegiate environment within an office building.

The renovation of the existing facility included a phased approach to construction with three separate projects being completed over successive summer breaks.

Those summer projects included:

• New multipurpose student lounge to provide space for campus organizations, audio visual
  presentations and events, and opportunities for food service.
• New Law School clinic to provide collaborative work and study space for students engaged with pro-bono projects.
• New Library space with a range of study space typologies for group and individual work, and a reworking of the ground floor library as a gathering and collaborative workspace.
• Redesign of the Moot Courtroom to support practice trials. The Moot Courtroom doubles as an auditorium for large school-wide presentations and as a rental space.
• New office/meeting space for student organizations and clubs.
• New Faculty offices and administrative student service spaces (tech support, registrar, financial services).