Vancouver Interior Design – Daycare Center Renovation
In our last blog post, we covered how M+ would work to accomplish our client’s needs. She is looking to convert an old restaurant into a larger daycare space, one with the capacity to accommodate 76 children from the ages of 3 to 5 years old, along with the centre staff.
The building features the necessary amount of parking spaces, updated plumbing fixtures, and a good amount of windows, bringing light into the space.
Our client also wants the finished space to incorporate a good air filtration system, to make use of current progressive energy efficient technology, and to be budget conscious.
With all of these stipulations in mind, we set our brains to the task ahead.
What we’ve found is that every site is unique, so each site requires its own set of problem-solving measures. This is why we always conduct an initial site visit, in order to both get ourselves familiar with the building as it stands, to perform safety analyses, and to learn more about what our clients need. Then, it’s down to more logistical considerations.
Vancouver Daycare Center Renovation Requirements
Firstly, we began work as an owner’s agent to get in touch with the municipality where the daycare will be located. We gathered the latest guidelines and zoning bylaws to find out the maximum allowable space for the building, the parking requirements, as well as what modifications are necessary to accommodate people living with disabilities.
Our next step is to once more spend time in the building, locating exits, indoor-outdoor access, and more. We take note of where natural light exists, and begin figuring out what size each room needs to be, in order to comfortably accommodate both the staff and the children. We have to be especially careful during this step, as there are daycare licensing ratios in effect about how many children may comfortably coexist in a space.
We also must look to efficiency, figuring out how to include adequate storage for all supplies and materials. We must plot out clearly defined areas for programmed activities as well: learning, eating, playing, and resting will all occur in designated zones, to create structure for the children and order for their caretakers.
Vancouver Architects – M+ Design
Then, Nadi, our Architect AIBC, will create the initial design, being mindful that the space is used efficiently and meets the initial guidelines set out by our client. As she does that, she will also make sure that the design meets the municipal guidelines for fire safety and health.
She will also meet with structural and mechanical engineers, so that they can expertly inform her of their assessments of building components and their recommendations for the design.
While Nadi attends to those structural details, Ellie, our Interior Designer, sets her sights to the emotional impact of the building.
Vancouver Daycare Center Interior Design – The Process
She comes up with colour themes appropriate for little children and their activities, and creates a layout that doesn’t overpower the interior. She also uses her technical and artistic know-how to create interest and excitement throughout the design. Ellie ensures that the materials used are cost-effective and durable, in keeping with our clients’ wishes. She then makes sure that fixtures and finishes installed can withstand the rigorous and high traffic use of many, many small children, over many, many years.
Ellie must also ensure that each space flows in a way that encourages education and fun to occur safely. She must also plan the requirements for safe, practical, and multifunctional, space-saving custom-designed millwork.
Ellie will also handpick materials for builders to use that optimize our client’s goal of indoor air quality.
It’s been scientifically proven that access to nature and natural light soothes and inspires the minds of children and adults. With this in mind, Ellie makes sure to include natural light as often as she can, analyzing the angles of the sun’s rays towards the building and window at certain points of the day throughout the year. This helps ensure that the children get the great possible emotional benefits at the daycare, located in the rainy climate of southern BC.
While the positive effects of natural light will help foster a healthy environment for the children, balance between high-lit and low-lit areas must still be maintained. This equilibrium will encourage an organic flow between both play and rest periods, which are crucial for developing brains.
This simultaneous need for brightness and a more subdued environment plays out in colour schemes as well. Bright, vivid colours encourage activity, creativity, and playtime, while cooler colours like blues, greys, and purples create soothing environments for concentration or rest. Our job is to meld all these elements together in a way that feels balanced and harmonious for the children.
Our final step is to study the best possible spacial flow — how the movement from one space to another translates into how the children experience the space. A well-designed space will promote not only an ease of physical movement for dozens of little children, but will also guide them emotionally from more dynamic spaces to resting ones. This creates not only a sense of freedom for the children, but also a sense of containment that enables them to feel a sense of belonging in what will feel for many like a second home.
Constant collaboration and communication between our architectural and interior design teams results in a superior and more well-rounded overall design. This whole integrated process results in a 360 degree approach that fully considers how a child will interact with the building — all from their point of view, from the size of the shelf holding the crayons to the layout of the cool-coloured nap-time room.
