PBS 140 Child Care Center Design Guide - The Whole Building ...

The main circulation serves as a community space as well as a pathway.
Especially in child care centers, the circulation space should never be simply
utilitarian in character. Instead, it should be conceived as a street or a
gallery with stopping and cueing areas along the way. There is opportunity
for important social in this space. It is a space to meet other children and
parents; a vantage point to see into classrooms, an exhibition space for
the work of children or prints of other kinds of art, and perhaps even
quotations to inspire and educate adults about child care issues. The
illustrations below are typical of this kind of differentiation.
The designer should strive to arrange spaces to be economical in the
amount of built area devoted to “pure” building circulation. There should
be at least one accessible drinking fountain in the corridor. But the designer
must de-emphasize the institutional appearance typically created by a
long, undeviating, double-loaded corridor (with doors to rooms on both
sides). When it is not feasible to vary the layout of the circulation corridor,
design strategies to de-emphasize such an impression include:
� Lighting: Skillful introduction of artificial lighting (for instance, instead of
the dead center placement of fluorescence in corridor ceilings, consider
using some strategically placed wall washers, or better yet, introduction
of natural light through skylights). Providing a window, glazed door, or
skylight at the end of a corridor is very psychologically advantageous.
PBS-140 - July 2003
CHAPTER 7: INTERIOR SPACE DESIGN
� Floor Pattern: A strong sense of place for children can be created by a
floor pattern. It can also be used by the skillful designer to diminish the
impression of long, double-loaded corridors. For instance, large pattern
repeats are often effective to de-emphasize the “tunnel” appearance
of double-loaded corridors. Likewise, patterns which are not symmetrically
arranged or which emphasize functional areas (such as entrances
to classrooms) are effective means to achieve the same end.
� Color. The designer should explore the use of color to visually alter the
dimensions of otherwise institutional looking, double-loaded corridors.
Care should be taken to avoid an over-stimulating color scheme. Avoid
primary red and oranges.
Children gain a sense of orientation when they can see the entrance to
their classroom and recognize landmarks such as displays, common areas,
and other design features. Teachers and children require clear views
between the classroom and circulation areas at their respective viewing
levels.
The main circulation
must be designed and
constructed to serve as
a primary means of
egress. Through
judicious arrangement,
the designer should
strive to lower the
amount of area
devoted to a purely
utilitarian circulation. In
no case should more
than 30 percent of the
OFA within a facility be
used for primary
circulation and service
areas unless the center
location is very
irregularly configured.
The Occupiable Floor
Area (OFA) allowance
includes circulation
within the classroom.
7-3