Contract Magazine - November 2019 - 47

CORPORATE CHILD CARE
CENTER
Architect and interior Designer
Page
Client Withheld
Where Texas, USA
Approximate number of employees within this interior 30
What 19,000 total square feet
on 1 floor

To attract and retain sought-after talent,
employers have upped their amenity game: Free
snacks and meals, all-access fitness centers, and
lavish game rooms are now de rigueur among the
best workplaces. But the companies that really
want to retain their employees invest in
thoughtfully designed and managed day care
facilities, as well. "An employee may be attracted
by a fitness center, but they will still leave," says
John Clegg, a principal at Page Architects. "They
may not leave if you have a child-care center."
One of Page's corporate clients in the
Woodlands, Texas, had already built an onsite
childcare center next to its headquarters, located
north of Houston, in 2014. That facility was quickly
oversubscribed, so the company enlisted the firm
to design a second facility that would be equally
attractive as the first, use materials that were of the
same high quality, and reflect a similar theme of
exploration. "The client didn't want parents to say,
"'Oh, this new one is better; I would prefer my child
to go to this one,'" says Luisina Basilico, another
principal at Page. Still, she and Clegg used aesthetic
license to achieve a different effect, staying clear
of primary colors and cartoonish decorations to
create a more sophisticated, residential feel that
wouldn't quickly become dated.
For many children who spend upwards of 40
hours a week at daycare, it becomes their second
home, so the designers were sure to include ample
roaming spaces for play outside of the classroom.
Circulation spaces are generous to provide enough
space for kids to develop their gross motor skills.
Additionally, the designers built an art room and a
library. "Those kinds of extra spaces can get the kids
out of the classroom on a regular day and definitely on
rainy days when they can't go outside," Basilico says.
Inside the classroom, the Page team also had

to be mindful of the ergonomic and curriculum
requirements of Bright Horizons, which operates
the daycare facilities. Everything is scaled to an age
group's size, from the height of the cubbies to where
the hooks are placed inside. "All of these things are
within inches of each other," Basilico says, "but they're
critical when you're dealing with somebody that's
less than three feet tall." Every classroom must also
adhere to strict capacity standards. "Should we
design a space incorrectly," she says, "then suddenly
a space for eight children may only fit seven, and
Bright Horizons' financial projections are off."
While Bright Horizons has strict curriculum
demands for the interior design choices, it cedes
aesthetic control to the employers, who, in this
case, wanted a decorative theme that would relate
to the first center, named the Explorers Club. The
designers branded the second facility the Pioneers
Club, placing a large map at reception to symbolize
the client's global presence. A built-in double-sided

contract

Page Architects' client
built its first child-care center
adjacent to its headquarters
in 2014. When that facility
became oversubscribed,
the company enlisted Page to
design a second center to
meet demand. The new
building threads into a skinny
site sandwiched between a
public parkway and the
campus ring road.
Contract Magazine - November 2019

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