JBFCS Child Development Center altJBFCS Child Development Center altJBFCS Child Development Center alt

Occupancy

2012

Location

34 W. 139th St Harlem, NYC

Client

JBFCS

The Jewish Board of Family & Children’s Services’ nationally recognized Child Development Center in Harlem provides special programming for children ages 2 to 6 with a range of developmental, neurological and/or emotional and behavioral challenges. They use a wide variety of therapeutic approaches, services, and programs to help children and their families. Program spaces include classrooms, rooms organized for a specific therapy (physical, music, play, speech), offices for learning specialists, and a special education teacher training room.

BKSK’s design work focused on creating learning environments that address the special needs of these children, while infusing a playful spirit throughout their 12,500 square foot facility on the ground floor of a new mixed-use building. At the outset, we met individually with administration leaders and teachers to understand the challenges and needs of their students and to get a clear picture of how they work with them. This in-depth programming study served as our roadmap for designing their new home.

COLLABORATORS
Gardiner & Theobald – cost and project management; AMA Consulting Engineers –MEP; Weidlinger Associates – structural; HLB Lighting Design; TM Technology Partners; Poulin + Morris – graphic design

Photos by Jonathan Wallen

"Simply put, we could not have found partners more suited to our design process. By getting who we are as a human service agency, they were able to reflect our soul in their design. As an owner, it just doesn’t get better than that!"

Ellen Josem, Associate Executive Director