Kid's Business

This commercial space was designed as a private daycare center in the upscale Buckhead area of Atlanta, Georgia. It needed to have a clean sophisticated look to appeal to the discriminating adults while having enough color, shape, and playfulness to stimulate and attract small children. Space planning challenges arose when daycare codes required that bathrooms and specific square footage be allocated per child, per specific age group, while investors maintained certain areas remain the largest for the most profitable age groups. All materials needed to be comfortable for crawling babies and tumbling toddlers, yet cost-conservative and incredibly durable. I designed unique spaces such as a built-in puppet area, a post office, and a loft boat to encourage interaction and transparency between spaces. In the boat, below deck, there are actual port holes and windows observing painted fish and friendly sea creatures including a smiling mermaid. On top of the deck, children can see leaping fish and the ocean beyond. At nap time, when the light goes out in the toddler room, on the ceiling the children can see the cow jumping over the moon and stars that glow in the dark. This project won an ASID Design Excellence Award, and it was featured in Design West magazine.