Educational Facility Design
The Circle C Child Development Center is part of an amenities area of a large residential subdivision in Austin, TX. As the second phase of a two-phase master plan, the site for the center was already established in order to complete the strong axis set up by the adjacent swim center and to balance the small scale of the bathhouse, pumphouse and postal facility. These buildings all comprised phase one.
However, between the time that phase one was completed and work on phase two began, the subdivision grew considerably. So much so that when the team at Heather McKinney Architects in Austin began planning the child development center, they had to establish a traffic pattern to help alleviate congestion at different times of the day.
After observing the existing traffic pattern, the architects resolved the issue by locating two entries at either end of the center. According to Heather McKinney, AIA, principal, one entry is the drop-off for children enrolled in a full-day program and the other is for children enrolled part-time. Thus, two separate traffic patterns were created. Parents picking up children midday from a part-time program can stop by the postal facility then, rather than at the end of the day when traffic in the area is at a peak.
Once inside, the center is simply designed to alleviate confusion. From either entrance, the children come into an octagonal space. At the full-day entrance, a mural depicting an ocean scene is painted on the walls of the octagon, thereby strengthening the sense of place for the children. At the part-time entrance, the mural is of a country fair.
Four of the six classrooms at either end of the building are situated off of these octagonal spaces. The other two are off a ramp that leads to the large activity room in the center of the building. Essentially, says McKinney, the building is set up in a dumbbell scheme with symmetrical ends.
"There aren't any long corridors, which can disorient young children," continues McKinney. "The rooms immediately off the octagon are for babies and younger children. Older children have the rooms off the ramp, which are a bit farther from the entrance."
The activity room, which is used as a rainy day playground and lunch room, is drenched in sunlight that enters through glass doors, large picture windows and clerestory windows. Primary colors trim the windows and create interest on the ceiling where blue steel ceiling beams and yellow tie rods support the standing seam roof. High intensity lights suspended from the ceiling augment the natural light.
The floor is covered in two different materials. The majority of the floor space is covered with vinyl composite tiles that are speckled with bits of red, blue and yellow. Geometric shapes in these same colors give the floor a quilt-like appearance. This same patterning is picked up in the classrooms. Floor patterns in the toddler rooms are diffused, while those in the older children's rooms are bold.
The other portion of the activity room floor is covered in a blue carpet specially made for athletic activities, such as bouncing balls, running and jumping. The activity room is flanked by covered porches, so children can play outside even in inclement weather.
This connection to the outdoors is maintained in the classrooms. Each room has a door to the outside. McKinney discovered in researching this project that children learn more being outdoors observing bugs, birds and plants than they do being sequestered indoors. When the children must be indoors, the windows are low enough for them to look out.
Materials for the classrooms were chosen to create a transition between school and home. Wood handrails, chair rails and baseboards soften the spaces, and suspended uplights provide even, ambient lighting for small children lying on their backs. Outside the classrooms, the octagonal space is illuminated with a custom made glass lamp. Recessed lighting sheds extra light down the ramp to the activity room.
Where the ramp meets the octagonal space, a staircase leads up to teachers' workrooms on both ends of the building. The workrooms' clerestory windows allow more natural light to reach the activity room.
Exterior Coordination
The Circle C Child Development Center--which is named for the Circle C Ranch that originally occupied the subdivision's property--is constructed of materials that emphasize the blending of residential and institutional use. The center uses the same colors of concrete block--rose, gray and cream--as adjacent buildings in the complex, but recombines them in different patterns to create both continuity and freshness.
Wood canopies shade the entrances at either end of the building. On the columns that support the canopies are custom light sconces. Made of metal and shaped like little animals, sconces glow with pin pricks of light as well as back wash the columns with light.
The center's outdoor area is dotted with the newest kind of play equipment made of wood, plastic and metal. Because the center is on a large piece of land, there are a variety of playscapes and tricycle paths, in addition to plenty of open ground for nature hikes. To select and place the equipment, the design team consulted with Joe Frost, an authority on playground equipment safety from the University of Texas.
The younger children's play area sits on a surface made of recycled tires, which is resilient and does not absorb heat. Pea gravel was used for the older children's play surfaces.
According to McKinney, land purchases for home building underwrote the cost of the child development center.
"Part of the price of a lot that a builder buys goes into an endowment for the center," explains McKinney. "There are thousands of lots, so the endowment covers a handsome chunk of the cost. The remainder is covered by tuition, which is comparatively moderate. Most of the money is put toward teachers' salaries and programs for the children."
User Comments:
No comments added
Add your comment
Fill out the fields below:
|
