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The Donald Stewart Early Childhood Center is a new, 1-story pre-kindergarten facility designed for 300 pupils. One of the first new school facilities designed under the NJ Schools Construction (SCC) auspices; the ECC was developed on an accelerated basis. Design commenced in mid-December of 2002 and was substantially complete by the end of May 2003, in time for a June 10 groundbreaking ceremony. Construction began in earnest soon after, and was completed by September of 2004. The students enter the facility, from the bus or automobile drop-off point, through a columned portico and entrance cupola. The cupola marks a specially designed round lobby that emphasizes the student's arrival at a special place and contains a large, playful, sculptural clock. The building contains 20 classrooms, each designed for a class of 15 children. The classrooms are designed in pairs, with each pair sharing a Small Group Instruction room. Other building elements in the 55,000 square-foot school include a large high-ceilinged multipurpose room with a platform stage for group activities, plays, and indoor physical activities; two specially-designed, privacy-protected outdoor play areas with soft, colorful, resilient surfaces; a practice kitchen; a separate outdoor garden and reading area, a kitchen for final preparation of lunches, and offices, conference rooms, and administration support spaces. The play areas are located between classroom wings of the building, and half of the classrooms have direct access to them. At the discretion of the District, the multi-purpose rooms can be used by the community. The plan layout was carefully developed to maintain ease of circulation within the building, in spite of a sloping site that necessitated changing floor levels. Every element of the school is especially child-scaled, and the design features bright colors, easily recognizable garden, animal, and block symbols, and abstract patterns that keep the spaces lively. The patterns and symbols identify areas of the building and can also be used to organize activities. The textures of the brick and block in the entrance portico and cupola areas, in particular, were specially selected with the knowledge that children like to touch their environment. The site was formerly a small commercial strip mall area, with two small office/retail structures that were demolished to make room for the school. The architect of record for this completed project was HACBM Architects Engineers Planners, Inc. |