Meeker Avenue in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York, doesn’t conjure up images of an ideal daycare location, even though it cuts across a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood. This busy avenue, along Brooklyn Queens Boulevard, has been home to busy commercial and industrial enterprises for more than a century. However, in 2019, when educator Nicole Joubran saw a dilapidated building materials warehouse soon to be vacated, she realized its potential for her planned preschool. The space is located downstairs in an eight-story residence and is affordable. It has a clear street view, two floors and the square footage she needs to run a viable business. It is also close to public transportation, car parks and a popular park, which is convenient for parents, caregivers and staff.
The City Kids Education Center, which opened at the end of 2021, is a breath of fresh air in a still disadvantaged area. Designed by architect Alexandra Barker and the women’s team of her Brooklyn-based firm Barker Associates Architecture Office (BAAO), the 11,000-square-foot interior offers pre-school, after-school and summer camps for 190 kids – a cramped two-story warehouse replaced by a fluid, welcoming environment that passers-by can see through wide glass entrance to the store.
However, the project is far from a simple conversion. The utility warehouse housing City Kids was built in the early 20th century and has since been adapted to the residential floors above, built in 2009. This typical urban collage gave the design team too many problems. Chief among these, according to Buck, is how the residential building’s beams, columns, and pipes run through the space below, which affects the height of the ceiling. The 98-by-61-foot-deep interior also lacks daylight, and too few or too small windows don’t help. But, Barker added, “the space does have huge potential in terms of open, uninterrupted floor space that can be created on both floors.”
The brief listed a preschool with six classrooms on the lower level and an out-of-school center with five classrooms on the top floor. Jubran also wanted the common spaces and ancillary spaces to be as connected and lit as possible. Working with a client and building owner-turned-general contractor, Barker and her colleagues created a pair of double-height adjoining spaces in the warehouse, using the existing 18-foot-tall space at the warehouse’s core. Ground floor: central “courtyard” for the reception and kindergarten classrooms. Each room has an interesting array of white pendants of varying lengths hanging overhead, accentuating the rich turquoise ceiling, while glass “viewing” holes around and above the walls provide a view and light between the space and the floor. To compensate for the lack of a ventilation system above the ceiling, the crew built one of the yard walls with a 19-inch cavity to house mechanical equipment. This depth allowed the architects to create a niche for small rooms and lockers (they reproduced the built-in effect on the lower half of the opposite wall).
A two-story reception area (1) and kindergarten yard (2 and above) replace the existing two-story entrance (3) of the existing warehouse. Photo © Francis Dzikowski
These captivating preludes set the stage for a series of rooms designed to nurture creativity, confidence and curiosity. Joubran hates the typical primary colors in daycare, considers aesthetics and accessibility to be important learning tools, and was drawn to Barker when she saw BAAO’s early preschool online. Older projects, mostly clad in natural maple wood, feature sensible color schemes, clear sight lines, and interesting features such as large perforated board walls.
The architects used thoughtful details such as built-in cubicles and storage cabinets (top and 4), residential-style tiles in the bathrooms (5), interior openings to connect spaces, and interesting and impactful lighting. Photo © Francis Dzikowski
Buck opted for an impressively realistic imitation wood vinyl board rather than a real one (for budget and maintenance reasons), and Buck continued many of these strategies in City Kids – spinning straw, given the shortcomings of building gold. For example, instead of obscuring the existing structure, she notes “inconsistencies” such as clunky columns and low cantilevered beams with curved transitions and a subtle palette of white, petal pink and mint. Her lighting scheme also defines 8 to 9 foot high ceilings on both floors with disc-shaped lights of varying diameters arrayed above the classrooms and ancillary areas, providing an even brightness that extends into the deepest corners. More Imaginative Force elements include decorative acoustic strips on the walls for noise protection, built-in nooks and benches (lined with vinyl boards) and second-floor storage cabinets that fold up like a Manhattan skyline. Flexible rooms and spaces are connected and suitable for all ages, with contemporary tables that can be raised, lowered and moved around as needed.
Built-in seating area and observation deck (6). The existing structure is marked with curves and pastel colors in the traffic area (7) and the reception area (8). Photo © Francis Dzikowski
Notably, affordable gender-neutral bathrooms have been added. They have home-grade tiles, stainless steel sinks, touchless faucets and dryers. Full-length doors in the booths provide privacy for older students, and for preschoolers, low walls (with sliding doors) allow teachers to see what’s going on. The idea “is to connect them to the house,” Buck said.
Although the pandemic has stalled the project due to the upcoming start of construction in early 2020, the team has used the time to fine-tune the details. The plan to replace and extend daylight windows with double glazing has been modified to include existing units to improve air circulation. Likewise, the HVAC system is enhanced with air filters and UV purifiers.
The whole place is quaint and childless – and surprisingly quiet due to its proximity to the main road. When Joubran started building the educational center, she envisioned a carefully crafted environment that would be comfortable and stimulating for children of all ages and even adults. In partnership with Barker and BAAO, City Kids has not only achieved these goals.
Architects: Barker Associates – Alexandra Barker, director; Christina Ostermer, lead designer; Annie Paz, Jennifer Levy, Lisa Kuhn, design team.
Linda Lentz is the Senior Editor of Architectural Record responsible for Record Interiors, the monthly inside pages, the quarterly lighting section, and special sections on 21st century schools, and good design is good business. She joined RECORD in 2008. The Brooklyn native used to work as a freelance writer and editor, reporting on design, materials and products, with the exception of RECORD and its derivative My House. He then worked as an article editor for Home Magazine for 10 years. She holds a master’s degree from New York University and a bachelor’s degree from the Pratt Institute.
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