CONTEXT
Built in 1964 and located in East Oakland, the original Arroyo Viejo child development center had outgrown its useful life. Classroom sizes were insufficient, the kitchen was rundown, and staff space was nearly nonexistent. Minimal day lighting and dead-end circulation did nothing to help the situation.
While the design prompt was to freshen up the existing building and meet current licensing requirements, we were able to undertake a dramatic renovation within the same, limited budget. The new design reuses most of the existing structure, while transforming the building into a sustainable and beautiful public day care. The primary success of the project comes from upgrading the dark, rundown facility into a series of light filled and child-centric learning spaces.
An inspiring learning environment provides an encouraging beginning to the public educational process for pre-K children, as well as support and resources that may not exist within the home. This renovation transformed a dysfunctional, aging structure into a source of pride for a struggling community with the hope of influencing future community development in the area.
CONCEPT
First, the floor plan was revised to facilitate a better entry experience and create an organizational structure that could translate into a more expressive building form. By opening up the plan, the classrooms now connect to the upgraded play area and rezoning the building gives staff much needed privacy.
The imposition of sweeping shapes create butterfly roofs, which let in balanced natural light through clerestory windows, ventilate the spaces, and define a new entrance as a focal point for the building. The language of the skewed, intersecting rectangular forms is carried throughout the building from the suspended acoustical clouds in the classrooms to the shape of the classroom signage. This language comes together to create spaces that are dynamic and playful, creating opportunities for the unexpected.
The landscape design emphasizes the existing creek (or arroyo) below, mirroring its form with meandering concrete pathways and planting. The entry area was designed to engage children while they wait with a shaded butterfly garden and concrete benches.
CHALLENGES
Throughout the design process the main challenges included maintaining safety in a high crime neighborhood, the discovery of an underground creek culvert through the middle of the site, and a state child care licensing requirement to increase classroom size. The underground culvert/easement combined with the radial floor plan limited the options for expansion, despite the fact that classrooms had to be enlarged. This required significant foundation work to be done, including the installation of 16 foot deep piles.
SUSTAINABILITY
The integration of green building techniques was done with goal of simultaneously reducing the carbon footprint, while increasing the comfort and health of all users. The building is CHPS self-certified, incorporating extensive sustainable strategies including:
- a daylight harvesting system for classroom lighting
- natural ventilation with no building air conditioning
- native landscaping
- building structure reuse
|
