Concord Children's Center

Narratives

Architect Narrative

Started in 1975, the local childcare center began a fundraising campaign in 2000 to expand its facilities and create an improved learning environment for its 100+ children and their families. The land allocated to the center by the town, was originally a community playground and is surrounded by a town library, a senior center, two historic churches, and a row of midsize residences along Main Street. The 7500 sf project was completed through an architect-led design/build process in which great strides were taken to integrate the building into its very public neighborhood, to maximize the community space available on the site, and to work within the constraints of a small site and limited budget.
Along Main St, the building’s form resembles five cottages in a row, mirroring homes on the opposite side of the street. At the rear of the site, the ground plane was lowered to hide the building’s size, allowing it to humbly address the monumental scale of a nearby church and large historic building. Lowering the ground plane also formed a bowl-shaped, sheltered space used as a community playground and a place for community events and concerts.
The early childhood center was designed with the understanding that young children’s play is their work and that their physical environment helps to teach them about the community in which they are a part. The building is designed to mimic the outside world. It has private homey spaces (classrooms), private workspaces (administrative offices), community spaces (interior and exterior community facilities) and a street (central hallway). Each age-specific classroom is housed in its own cottage, connected to the other classrooms through doors that slide open and closed. The individual houses make each classroom feel like its own, unique entity; connected (both literally and physically) to the center’s community (which in turn is connected to the town community, and the global community). By teaching children about their community in a safe place designed around the tenets of clarity and user-orientation, the hope is that students will form a greater understanding and sense of connection to the outside world.
Through the planning phases of the project, ideas were presented to further the children’s comfort and safety and to ease their transition between home and school. Cork flooring was chosen because it is a soft surface, sustainable, and non-toxic and the building’s scale and products used were designed to child height. There were many design innovations used to bring natural light deep into the building. A raised, glass-paneled cupola referencing the church steeples and towers of the center’s surrounding buildings floods the interior core with natural light. Large windows in the administrative and community offices help promote “passive supervision,” a “goodbye window” in each room allows children to watch their caretakers coming and going, and playful, child-height doors and windows further the cottage feel and help connect the building’s occupants with their surrounding environment.

Educator Narrative

Our childcare center was given an eviction notice from the building we had called home for twenty –five years. While this was an incredible challenge, it was also the stimulus for us to think about our values as a Center and what we would want our new environment to reflect. We also wanted it to feel as cozy as our much used and worn space.

The challenge we asked of our architect was to design something that was not quite a school, yet not quite a home; something altogether different, a childcare center. It was important to us that the space feel homey, yet, allow for efficient, healthy and safe group care for young children between 2 years and 5years old. It was also extremely important to us that the place be respectful of the adults who would use it as well as the children. We wanted it to welcome parents and encourage them to linger, yet allow their children to become independent, so linger outside of the classroom

We wanted to recognize teachers as professionals and to be able to offer them a space that recognized their needs, i.e. spaces for their personal and professional belongings, grown up chairs, and privacy to make a phone call.

We also wanted to be a resource in the community for early childhood professional development. We wanted to create something beautiful, yet playful, that would represent what we offered children. We wanted to be part of the community and be visible to the community, not tucked away or hidden. We wanted our security in people rather than cameras and key pads, so we wanted to be able to see the playground, into classrooms, etc. We also wanted flexibility in terms of age range and usage.

Our new building addresses all of these wants and even goes a step further. The five classrooms all offer the same square footage, but are unique in their window treatment creating a sense of place for the groups. The building is very transparent allowing plenty of natural light, but also plenty of visibility. The cork floors absorb sound and are easier on the feet of both children and adults. The curve of the building to match the streetscape creates a feeling of welcoming. The front living room which welcomes families has encouraged parents and even some community members to linger. A pot of coffee on the kitchen counter adds to this message of welcome.

The building was warmly received in the community. We have had many requests to use our multi-purpose room, but have limited it to professional development and family activities. The storage spaces in that room for both large toys and table and chairs has been tremendous.

The neutral color of the walls has been very soothing to the eye and allows for the children’s artwork to provide the vibrant colors. In fact we’ve had several artists from the community create pieces for our walls!

In summary, it is a beautiful building which is a great place to work for adults and play for children. We love it.