Drawing on the Reggio Emilia Approach to childhood learning, Mission College’s Child Development Center operates with the conviction that “children learn best in an environment that encourages exploration, provides nurturing supportive relationships, adapts to each individual child’s learning styles and needs, and offers opportunities for play.” In addition to providing childcare services to faculty, staff, students, and members of the community, the CDC expresses this conviction through a robust academic study program for careers with children.
Recognizing that the CDC’s 10,234 gsf facilities, built in 2001, needed critical renovations and updates, the College retained ABA to transform the CDC into a modern, accessible, campus-connected, energy-efficient facility to house core functions, classrooms, childcare facilities, faculty offices, student collaboration spaces, restrooms, and outdoor play area. Pre-design efforts included walking through and assessing current facilities as well as working with our cost estimating consultant to understand the cost of proposed renovations. Crucially, we worked extensively with building users and other College stakeholders to articulate an inspiring vision and define the success criteria that would guide our subsequent design work. We then designed the renovation to harmonize the technical aspects of the project with an inspiring architectural expression of the Reggio Emelia Approach.
