Education:
Located in Glendale, California, the 23,000 sq. ft. childcare facility is designed to accommodate 236 children between infant and Pre-K ages. The sustainable strategies incorporated into the building are key visual and tactile elements in the design, emphasizing the facility as both a learning environment and an educational tool.
The design incorporates recycled and green materials throughout the complex. The center features rammed earth walls, which not only have the potential to last indefinitely, but regulate heat flow, allowing for minimal environmental impact. The Childcare Center also features rainscreen exterior walls, which not only serve to waterproof the structure, but allow it to breathe. Rainscreens - in addition to strategic window placement - provide an additional layer of insulation, further increasing the energy efficiency of the complex. These sustainable elements do not merely serve as a stage set for the Center and its students, but demand interaction; the system of solar panels forms a protective canopy over the pedestrian walkway, fulfilling a functional purpose while also showcasing the complex’s environmentally conscious features to all who walk beneath it.
As a result of ARC's ingenious and innovative design as regards energy conservation, this building won the Sustainable Innovation Award in 2011 given by the US Green Building Council, Los Angeles Chapter, Materials and Resources.
ARC was in instrumental in expressing the special requirements of this building for children: security, water temperature, childproofing, air flow distribution, nap rooms temperature, and the marrying all of this with the sustainable strategy and the architecture.
ARC is proud to have been instrumental in creating this unique structure, and the accolades, from users to visitors, keep flowing in to this day.
