Spruce Street Nursery School

Narratives

Architect Narrative

Located on the 2nd floor of a new 37 story high-end residential tower in downtown Boston, the new home for this nursery school was a significant departure for the school that previously had occupied a quaint building in the historic Beacon Hill neighborhood.

The program goal for the client was to create four classrooms for children aged 2 to 5 in the 3,700 square foot space within a restrictive budget. We began design with developing program alternatives, cost differences and the life cycle benefits of certain decisions. We spent two days on site observing the existing nursery school, collecting data, before presenting options for the client to respond to. At the workshops for this project, we used an array of tools including “silent” conversations, collage, schematic catalysts, naming metaphors, surveys / questionnaires, group discussions and a project web site.

There were significant obstacles to overcome in the design. The space has multiple elevators seving the residential tower that travels through the school, as well as a myriad of oddly located, large concrete columns. The potential ceiling height was low (8′-2″) and three of the four sides had no windows. The space faced north and, therefore, received very little sunlight; the floor was fairly deep so major portions of the school received no daylight at all. The 2nd floor location was good for security control but enforced the sense of removal from the outside.

The challenge of creating a warm, bright environment was met by using a birch floor and maximizing incandescent lighting while meeting the energy code. The classrooms, named “Oaks”, “Maples”, “Acorns” and “Willows”, are structured by age group, although part of the school’s program is a “free” period before classes where children are encouraged to intermingle with other classes. The project was designed to include smaller scale spaces for the children to relate to, as well as “moments” that help identify particular aspects of the school. We designed a loft that separated two of the classrooms and in another, an existing column was designed to resemble a tree. A computer “den” was created out of a niche between two structural walls.

A curved yellow wall was lit by halogen lamps helping to create a warm and welcoming entrance to the school. In fact, lighting was an important feature of the design due to the lack of natural light. Tiny airplane lamps helped mark the computer area, pendant lamps highlighted the kitchen and incandescent track lighting throughout emphasized other feature walls and helped warm the space.

Educator Narrative

“There was a child went forth every day,
And the first object he looked upon,
that object he became,
And that object became part of him for the day or a certain part of the day
Or for many years or stretching cycles of years.”
-Walt Whitman-

We believe that curriculum for young children is not limited to what is “taught” but is instead all that is experienced. Design, therefore, is more than just a way to arrange space, but rather an integral part of the child’s growth and development.

We feel that children of all ages should come together to learn from and with each other. Although each classroom maintains its own unique identity, the children should have ample opportunity to work not only in their specific area and with their own teachers, but with other teachers and age groups as well. By encouraging interchange between classrooms, a sense of community is established as children of all ages come to know and understand one another.

The open floor plan, beautiful attention to detail, extraordinary use of color and light, and flow of the design, all support and enhance our mission.