Charter School
54,000 sf
Adaptive Reuse
Ellicott Development Co.
Completed 2012
Buffalo, NY 

The Health Sciences Charter School in Buffalo occupies a former orphanage designed by Greene and Wicks in 1898. The four-story 54,000 sf building was previously home to Bishop O'Hern High School and served as the first location for the city campus of Erie Community College. It has been vacant since 1982.

The charter school design features new science laboratories that incorporate large benches similar to those found at various research institutions in the region. Classrooms include adjacent break-out seminar areas that can be used for special project-based study, medical facility mock-ups, as well as other uses as they develop. A two-story central space has been designed as a resource room, lined with computer stations and headed by the technology classrooms. The school prepares students for future careers in the health sciences through an intellectually rigorous college-prep education and is backed by a strong hands-on commitment from area health care industry partners. Students are exposed to specialized laboratory-based research, mentoring programs, real-work internships, and a specialized classroom curriculum. The work on the facility is being phased as the school grows to house a full four years of classes.