Educare Center in Long Beach uses modular construction to cut costs without sacrificing space or amenities

Constructed next to the Clara Barton Elementary School, the 31,483-sf Educare Los Angeles at Long Beach’s campus includes four prefabricated buildings that offer research-based, year-round child care and early education programs.

The center includes 16 large, open-concept classrooms, a play therapy room, and a playground. A two-story administrative building features a double-height lobby and gross motor/multipurpose room (each with 25-foot ceilings), a kitchen, conference room, nurse’s office, and parent resource and training center. The spaces are all designed specifically to foster social, physical, and emotional growth.

Originally designed as conventional construction, rising costs and a tight schedule prompted the campus’s switch to modular construction. American Modular Systems (AMS) was chosen to modularize the design.

PLayground at Educare Los Angeles Courtesy AMS.

The Center’s design features high ceilings with skylights, walls of stacked windows, and colorful finishes. THe spaces are lit via a combination of natural light and automated LED lighting. The LED lighting combines with automated climate control to reduce energy usage by up to 60%.

AMS mixed three-dimensional module sizes to create the two-story administrative building’s modern aesthetic. The modules were installed on a concrete foundation and have the same permanence as a traditional building.

"Customizing factory-built buildings allowed us to deliver the same amenities and high-end aesthetic at a lower cost," said Brian Dougherty, the project’s Architect-of-Record, in a release. “"If you compare the original drawings to the finished campus, we built exactly what we set out to build, and we did it in half the time."

The University of California, Riverside, School of Medicine has opened the 94,576-sf, five-floor Education Building II (EDII). Created by the design-build team of CO Architects and Hensel Phelps, the medical school’s new home supports team-based student learning, offers social spaces, and provides departmental offices for faculty and staff.

Education Facilities | Jun 6, 2024

Studio Gang designs agricultural education center for the New York City Housing Authority

Earlier this month, the City of New York broke ground on the new $18.2 million Marlboro Agricultural Education Center (MAEC) at the New York City Housing Authority’s Marlboro Houses in Brooklyn. In line with the mission of its nonprofit operator, The Campaign Against Hunger, MAEC aims to strengthen food autonomy and security in underserved neighborhoods. MAEC will provide Marlboro Houses with diverse, community-oriented programs.

Kaiser Borsari Hall will draw 100% of its electricity from a rooftop solar panel array. Photo courtesy Perkins&Will

Mass Timber | May 31, 2024

Mass timber a big part of Western Washington University’s net-zero ambitions

Western Washington University, in Bellingham, Wash., 90 miles from Seattle, is in the process of expanding its ABET-accredited programs for electrical engineering, computer engineering and science, and energy science. As part of that process, the university is building Kaiser Borsari Hall, the 54,000-sf new home for those academic disciplines that will include teaching labs, research labs, classrooms, collaborative spaces, and administrative offices.

In St. Louis’ Cortex Innovation District, Washington University School of Medicine recently opened its new Jeffrey T. Fort Neuroscience Research Building. Photo courtesy McCarthy Building Companies

University Buildings | May 30, 2024

Washington University School of Medicine opens one of the world’s largest neuroscience research buildings

In St. Louis’ Cortex Innovation District, Washington University School of Medicine recently opened its new Jeffrey T. Fort Neuroscience Research Building. Designed by CannonDesign and Perkins&Will, the 11-story, 609,000-sf facility is one of the largest neuroscience buildings in the world.

K-12 Schools | May 15, 2024

A new Alabama high school supports hands-on, collaborative, and diverse learning

In Gulf Shores, a city on Alabama’s Gulf Coast, a new $137 million high school broke ground in late April and is expected to open in the fall of 2026. Designed by DLR Group and Goodwyn Mills Cawood, the 287,000-sf Gulf Shores High School will offer cutting-edge facilities and hands-on learning opportunities.

University Buildings | May 10, 2024

UNC Chapel Hill’s new medical education building offers seminar rooms and midsize classrooms—and notably, no lecture halls

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has unveiled a new medical education building, Roper Hall. Designed by The S/L/A/M Collaborative (SLAM) and Flad Architects, the UNC School of Medicine’s new building intends to train new generations of physicians through dynamic and active modes of learning.

K-12 Schools | May 7, 2024

World's first K-12 school to achieve both LEED for Schools Platinum and WELL Platinum

A new K-12 school in Washington, D.C., is the first school in the world to achieve both LEED for Schools Platinum and WELL Platinum, according to its architect, Perkins Eastman. The John Lewis Elementary School is also the first school in the District of Columbia designed to achieve net-zero energy (NZE).

River Grove Elementary School in Oregon Rendering: Arcadis

K-12 Schools | Apr 30, 2024

Fully electric Oregon elementary school aims for resilience with microgrid design

The River Grove Elementary School in Oregon was designed for net-zero carbon and resiliency to seismic events, storms, and wildfire. The roughly 82,000-sf school in a Portland suburb will feature a microgrid—a small-scale power grid that operates independently from the area’s electric grid.

Mass Timber | Apr 25, 2024

Bjarke Ingels Group designs a mass timber cube structure for the University of Kansas

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and executive architect BNIM have unveiled their design for a new mass timber cube structure called the Makers’ KUbe for the University of Kansas School of Architecture & Design. A six-story, 50,000-sf building for learning and collaboration, the light-filled KUbe will house studio and teaching space, 3D-printing and robotic labs, and a ground-level cafe, all organized around a central core.