The 37,900-SF Brokaw Early Learning Center sits on 10 acres and serves a unique group of 600 pre-school students, many with learning or physical disabilities. Every design element responds to the learning scale of these three-to-five-year-olds. The facility plan features four small houses that pinwheel around a central core of shared spaces. Each house consists of five classrooms surrounding an open, naturally lit living room, dubbed a “village.” From a student's perspective, the design reduces the scale of a large school into just five classrooms and a village. Each village is designated with a specific color so students can easily identify their assigned place. Child-friendly scale is layered into the elevations with a horizontal material change at 9 feet and 4 inches above the floor. Each classroom has in-floor and ceiling radiant heating for improved comfort of the students, whose activities are often carried out on the floor.The design attributes of the school give each student a place where he or she can learn how to learn during the most critical development period of his life.

DLR Group provided architecture and interiors services.

Material Used :

1. Interface – Commercial Carpet – Menagerie Collection

2. Forbo Flooring Systems – Commercial Carpet – Coral Brush Collection

3. Tandus Centiva – Commercial Carpet – Plexus Colour Collection

4. USG –Ceiling – Mars Acoustical Panels

5. Algoma Hardwoods – Architectural Doors – Plain Sliced White Maple

6. Duraflex – Epoxy Flooring – Dur-A-Quartz

7. Viracon – Architectural Glazing – Insulating Laminated Glass with Silkscreen printing

8. American Olean – Wall Tile – Greenwhich Village Collection

9. American Olean – Wall Tile – Martinique Collection