Former Wash Heights Garage To Become Music-Centered Charter School

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY - The site of a former parking garage in Washington Heights won’t stay quiet for long.

WHIN Music Community Charter School, a music-oriented K-8 institution, is slated to open its new location at 528 W 162nd St. by next fall, officials said. The eight-story, 55,000-square-foot building centered around a 400-seat concert hall will celebrate a topping out ceremony Thursday, the projects' architects said, with the tallest and last beam to be ceremoniously placed on the project.

“The metal façade design is reminiscent of the various instrumental parts coming together on the staves of a conductor’s score,” architectural firm Gluck+ said of the new space in a news release.

“Bright yellow window frames move from structured rhythmic beats at the base to more animated musical notes of the melody on top. This parallels the progression from the fundamentals in the lower grades at the lower floors to the more individual expression or artistry of the upper grades higher up.”

WHIN Music Community Charter School, currently located at 517 West 164th Street, was the first primary school of its kind in New York City to use the El Sistema method of teaching, which stresses social development and social change through daily ensemble music education, school officials said. The school, which opened in 2017, will permanently move its headquarters to the new site upon completion, officials said.

Each WHIN student can expect to take orchestra and choir classes daily, with rigorous music education aimed at fostering community and academic excellence.

Prospective students can also expect a full cafeteria with outdoor recreational terrace and a top floor gymnasium, plus a ground level concert hall directly visible from the lobby and street — separated by merely a glass wall.

“From instruction in the theater as classroom to quarterly school-wide concert performances on its stage, WHIN invites the community to share in the music,” Gluck+ said. “This new building champions WHIN’s mission to prepare the ground for these citizen artists to thrive.”