A little blue door welcomes students to CCSD59’s new Early Learning Center (ELC) in Mount Prospect, Illinois. The door is the first of many features that give the district’s earliest learners “a place that is theirs.” The facility is designed to inspire curiosity, encourage interaction, and optimize indoor/outdoor connections. It’s a comfortable place that makes learning fun.
Early Learning Center inspires curiosity, encourages interaction, and optimizes indoor/outdoor connections
A 57,000-square-foot expansion (to a junior high school) consolidates all district early learning programs in a single facility. Designers developed the facility around outdoor learning areas, including a courtyard rich in age-appropriate learning opportunities and three themed learning gardens (fine arts, nature, sensory) positioned between classroom volumes.
The staggered arrangement of eight classroom bars responds to a key goal: to maximize learning opportunities beyond the classrooms. Each pair of classrooms connects via a sliding glass door and an integrated therapy room in which specialists provide small-group instruction. Light-filled corridors house a culinary arts zone with a child-size counter and “therapy stairs” for training. Corridors also feature breakout spaces with curving ceiling and wall patterns, wall materials that welcome touch, and views of the learning gardens. A family resource center helps parents get to know staff while their children acclimate to their new environment. A large motor skills area adjacent to the courtyard serves children of all needs.
Usually, our early learners have separation anxiety and cry during drop-off out front. After our first month open, we noticed the reverse—that several students were upset that they had to leave the facility! We appreciate that this environment helps the students feel comfortable to explore and makes learning fun.
Tony Rossi, Past Executive Director of Facilities, Community Consolidated School District 59
The CCSD59 Early Learning Center capitalizes on outdoor learning and the power of play to change attitudes.
