MICHAEL SHILALE ARCHITECTS

		West Street Child Care Center A place for children to play and to learn and that meets their needs for movement, comfort, competence and control



		Michael Shilale Architects, LLP (MSA) are experts in school design from early childhood centers to higher education buildings. They have specialized in K-12 educational environments for the last two decades. MSA is excited to have begun the design process for the West Street Child Care Center in Spring Valley, NY. MSA will assert its experience and expertise in education and child care design to expanding and renovating this important center. The main goal of the renovation and expansion is to increase the center’s capacity to at least 250 children, which would be double the center’s current capacity. There are also plans to add larger classrooms and create an interior multi-purpose room that can serve as a gross motor space, an enlarged kitchen and storage room, a single entry point that would provide access from both the east and west streets and elevator access to all levels of the building. Michael Shilale, AIA, LEED has attended the Institute for Child Care Design at Harvard University, where he studied child care facilities throughout the world as well as methods for creating spaces ideal for child growth and learning. This expertise prepared MSA for its child care center projects, most recently including the West Street center. The increased space and additional classrooms will allow more of the community’s children to learn and be cared for in a bright, stimulating, safe environment. MSA’s design scheme will also provide the center with a more convenient and accessible layout: the existing building was constructed in two stages with each floor having two separate levels. The new design will provide for a carefully placed elevator with opposite side doors to promote access to all levels. For further convenience, there will be the entrance that is accessible from the east street and the west street that the center is on. MSA is pleased to be working with the dedicated staff at West Street, and all look forward to the beneficial results of the expansion and renovation.

		LOCATION - Spring Valley, New York CLIENT - West Street Child Care Center COST - $5,000,000 SIZE - 25,000 SF