Employee Childcare Center

We worked with a major medical center and child-care provider Bright Horizons to design an early childhood center for their employees that offered a wide variety of spaces and functions for kids aged 3 months to 6 years old.

Security and privacy was of utmost importance, as the facility is located on the ground floor of an office building in midtown Manhattan. The site is not near a park or outdoor play area, so the center features a “movement zone” with rock-climbing wall, slide, tricycle and gym area. A central column forms the trunk of a tree and the ceiling has been illuminated to give the impression of open sky. Animal murals adorn a curved corridor wall with a large freshwater aquarium placed at just the right height for a child. Infant and toddler rooms feature shared child-size restrooms with low walls, rounded viewing windows and an open plan to facilitate visibility. Older toddler and pre-K rooms include a shared project space and a dedicated STEM lab for exploration of the natural world. This licensed day care center is fully compliant with NYC Article 47 Department of Health regulations and has capacity for 181 children.

We worked with Studio MLA on the project.

Photography by Ximena Blanco, AIA