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.
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%.
See Also: Modular construction may be key to relieving housing crunch
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."
Related Stories
| Jan 13, 2014
Custom exterior fabricator A. Zahner unveils free façade design software for architects
The web-based tool uses the company's factory floor like "a massive rapid prototype machine,” allowing designers to manipulate designs on the fly based on cost and other factors, according to CEO/President Bill Zahner.
| Jan 11, 2014
Getting to net-zero energy with brick masonry construction [AIA course]
When targeting net-zero energy performance, AEC professionals are advised to tackle energy demand first. This AIA course covers brick masonry's role in reducing energy consumption in buildings.
| Jan 6, 2014
What is value engineering?
If you had to define value engineering in a single word, you might boil it down to "efficiency." That would be one word, but it wouldn’t be accurate.
| Dec 23, 2013
MBI commends start of module setting at B2, world's tallest modular building
The first modules have been set at B2 residential tower at Atlantic Yards in New York, set to become the tallest modular building in the world.
| Dec 13, 2013
Safe and sound: 10 solutions for fire and life safety
From a dual fire-CO detector to an aspiration-sensing fire alarm, BD+C editors present a roundup of new fire and life safety products and technologies.
| Dec 10, 2013
16 great solutions for architects, engineers, and contractors
From a crowd-funded smart shovel to a why-didn’t-someone-do-this-sooner scheme for managing traffic in public restrooms, these ideas are noteworthy for creative problem-solving. Here are some of the most intriguing innovations the BD+C community has brought to our attention this year.
| Dec 10, 2013
Modular Pedia-Pod: Sustainability in healthcare construction [slideshow]
Greenbuild 2013 in Philadelphia was the site of a unique display—Pedia-Pod, a modular pediatric treatment room designed and built by NRB, in collaboration with the editors of Building Design+Construction, SGC Horizon LLC, and their team of medical design consultants.
| Nov 27, 2013
Wonder walls: 13 choices for the building envelope
BD+C editors present a roundup of the latest technologies and applications in exterior wall systems, from a tapered metal wall installation in Oklahoma to a textured precast concrete solution in North Carolina.
| Nov 26, 2013
Construction costs rise for 22nd straight month in November
Construction costs in North America rose for the 22nd consecutive month in November as labor costs continued to increase, amid growing industry concern over the tight availability of skilled workers.
| Nov 25, 2013
Building Teams need to help owners avoid 'operational stray'
"Operational stray" occurs when a building’s MEP systems don’t work the way they should. Even the most well-designed and constructed building can stray from perfection—and that can cost the owner a ton in unnecessary utility costs. But help is on the way.
