This LEED-Gold-certified children’s center houses nine classrooms for up to 128 students ranging in age from six months to five years. The complex is a microcosm of the surrounding ecology, designed to illustrate natural processes and teach students about active and passive systems of environmental conservation. By promoting understanding of the site’s sustainable systems, the center is itself a central part of the school’s curriculum. Through observation and play, the children learn about the preciousness of water in California’s arid climate.
Caltech’s Children’s Center cultivates qualities of curiosity and inquiry through the integration of S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) into the daily life of each age group. The Center is designed as a laboratory for natural phenomena, featuring the interactive force of water. Through observation and collection, children (and families) will understand the true source of water (precipitation) in our climate while acquiring a sense of the quantities required to ‘fill’ various ‘containers’ such as a tank, a river bed, a bucket, a cup.
Carved into the sloping contours of the site an ‘arroyo’ serves as a natural source of discovery, filled with rocks, grasses, bugs and birds. It links the yards of all three age groups while functioning as a bioswale to conduct, retain, filter and dissipate storm water on site. ‘Bridges’ cross the lower ‘stream bed’ linking play areas and age groups while allowing children to experience and investigate the three dimensional qualities of the Center’s topography. Each ‘bridge’ includes a different S.T.E.A.M. function such as a lever to dam water flow in the arroyo, transparent multicolored windows, or one that casts shadows to record time, day and seasons.
The building program is distributed into three separate and appropriately scaled buildings organized by age group. Infant rooms are located in the quiet and lowest, Southern end of the site, furthest from existing tennis courts and buffered from parking lots by administrative and service wings. Toddlers are located in the center of campus between the youngest and oldest residents with their play yard to the South, adjacent to the Infant yard. Pre-schoolers occupy the highest point at the northern boundary of the site, with a view of the Toddler rooms and in direct connection with Science Pavilion.
Narrative Sustainable Design Certificate:
At the heart of the complex lies the on-site water management system, an arroyo, or dry streambed carved into the site’s sloping contours that acts as a bioswale, filtering and dispersing rainwater collected onsite and stored in large cisterns. Rainwater is collected from rooftops and captured in cisterns to provide a natural irrigation source for gardening. This water also enables the kinds of experiments that teach children about their environment. Surface runoff and overflow from the cisterns are channeled into the arroyo, which naturally replenishes the water table. Any excess is diverted into a 20,000-gallon infiltration tank, which prevents it from entering the storm water system. The native drought tolerant trees and plants were selected to be tough enough to handle the rigors of a playground but diverse enough to provide a range of textures, shapes and colors in all seasons. The plant selection, limiting areas of turf, and the use of water efficient drip and irrigation results in a greater than 50% water savings for the landscape.
The neighborhood demand for a childcare center was strong, but a single, large building would have overwhelmed the area’s residential character. Instead, the meandering arroyo divides the complex into three smaller residential scaled buildings, each building organized by age with its own outdoor play area. Roof slopes that change direction further break down the scale of these forms, while unique graphics and color schemes provide a distinct identity for each classroom. Long span construction allows for column-free classrooms and maximum
flexibility of space.
The buildings take advantage of the efficiencies offered by modular construction through the use of pre-manufactured wood trusses. Maintaining similar spans and slopes allows for repetitive, cost effective construction, further driving down costs. And by remaining exposed, the trusses, mechanical systems, and lighting also contribute to project’s didactic nature by allowing students to observe many of the building’s inner workings. Cool roofs, light building colors, and limited paving reduce solar heat gain. Roof overhangs alleviate heat gain in the summer months, while allowing the sun to penetrate into the buildings in winter.
Covered outdoor walkways take the place of interior hallways maximizing natural ventilation and minimizing the amount of interior space to be heated and cooled. Large sliding doors for each classroom create seamless transitions between indoor and outdoor spaces. They’re paired with windows positioned high on the opposite walls to facilitate natural cross-ventilation. When heating and cooling are needed, multiple HVAC zones, local controls, and occupancy sensors increase efficiency while giving users more ability to keep classroom temperatures comfortable. Service cores utilize low-flow faucets, metered faucets, and low flow toilets are positioned between pairs of classrooms, enabling shared use of diapering, toilet, and kitchenette functions.
The project draws upon and extends both the natural and constructed conditions of the surrounding area, providing a learning environment that expresses the function of the design. In this fashion, the site itself takes on the role of classroom, laboratory, and teaching tool.