Pawtucket Day Child Development Center

Narratives

Architect Narrative

THE CLIENT: The Client is a private, non-profit pre-school and daycare center serving mostly low-income working families in an urban area. It is the oldest organization of its type in the state, and has operated on the same site for over 100 years.

THE PROBLEM: Faced with no space for growth and new programs, as well as no indoor playroom in case of inclement weather, the Architect was asked to develop a master plan to determine the expandability of a daycare/preschool facility.

THE GOAL: Develop a two-phase expansion plan; Phase I (this project) called for the addition of a +/- 1,200 s.f. multi-purpose room at the rear of the facility.

THE PROGRAM: The program for this addition was for a flexible space that could be used as a classroom, after-school daycare, or indoor playroom in bad weather. Support spaces include restrooms and a small storage room. Besides the addition of badly needed program space, this project was looked upon as an opportunity to reimage the exterior of the facility.

THE LOCATION: In 1970, the original wood-framed building was demolished, and a 10,000 s.f., one-story, non-descript masonry building erected. There is a parking lot between the street and the building, with a large playground in the rear. The site is bordered by a multi-family residential street on one side, Amtrak lines on the other, and borders a busy commercial area of the city. Mostly flat around the building, the site slopes down a few feet from the building to the playground in the rear. The full perimeter of the site is fenced.

THE DESIGN SOLUTION: The new image is fun, dynamic, energetic, and meant to stimulate the creative minds of the children. Although the addition is a single, large, open room, the shape of the room implies two distinct halves, allowing easy separation into two different activity areas with furniture or portable dividers. This is reflected in the exterior design, a playful “collision” of two masses of different colors and materials. A skylight structure springs up at the point of the collision, bringing the natural light deep into the space, and enhancing the “tumbling block” imagery. An insulated overhead door can be opened seasonally, to allow the space to become an extension of the outdoor play area, or a sheltered staging area for outdoor functions.

A future phase of the master plan will add another classroom and more administrative office space to the front of the building, thereby completing the program and the new image.

The design concept for this project was done entirely with 3-D modeling software (“Form Z”). The design presentation to the client consisted of a 2-D site plan and floor plan, and a fully-developed 3-D computer model (in color), showing multiple interior and exterior views. The computer model was superimposed on an actual photograph of the existing facility using Adobe PhotoShop software to give the client an incredibly realistic vision of what the project would look like. (See graphic submittal).

THE ARCHITECT’S RESPONSIBIITIES: The Architect was responsible for the master planning, site design, building design, interior design, and structural.

MEP engineering was done as design-build by the contractor.

COMPLETION DATE & TOTAL BUILDING CONSTRUCTION COST: The project was completed in September 2000. Hard construction cost of the building only was $173,000.