The recently completed East Calvary Daycare space transformed what used to be a standard Daycare into an area that both children and educators can thrive and grow. The project focused on replacing, covering, and installing new elements such as flooring, lighting fixtures, window shades, duct covering, a modern kitchen, and a new exterior facade.
The exterior facade introduces the lighter color theme that the space presented with the project. The painted bricks in a combination of white and blue bring a more lively introduction to the area, which otherwise would have been brick. The signage also added to the exterior facade was applied to a safety railing above the entryway, hiding the barrier and bringing more attention to the daycare. Previously the daycare lacked signage beside a banner that was in the front.
The first change in the daycare interior is the flooring that changes throughout the rooms but is centrally focused on the hallway, which uses satellite imagery worldwide (New York, Sacramento, The Grand Canyon, and Antártica) to create a condensed flyover through the world. In the classrooms of which there are 3, the team played with standard VCT tiles and created a floor pattern around a different tile color in each room.
The hallway also reveals a second critical design decision, which was to cover the ducts. The ducts were previously left exposed, which visually created a disconnect and was unappealing. The duct covering in the hallway and the second classroom made of wood strips that keep a natural tone and lighten up the space as a whole; it similarly uses the duct size as an advantage and opportunity to draw attention towards the design.
The lighting throughout the area was critical in the design process because it needed to bring more illumination to the space and be located optimally for room use purposes. The lighting fixtures use custom connectors, which allow space for design and awkward locations within the rooms and hallway to complement the rest of the area’s design. Other additions to the daycare include a remodel of the kitchen centered around new stainless steel cabinets, which was a request of the kitchen workers. The team added curtains throughout the space, which was made to size to account for uniquely sized windows. The space has maintained an identical floor plan but with the new finishes competes with the surrounding daycares as one that combines various creative solutions to an area that is critical for children’s development.
