A safe and welcoming center for early childhood education with a strong sense of place.
Close to Waggonner & Ball’s award-winning Lower
School complex at Isidore Newman School, the new
Green Trees facility houses infants through 4 year olds.
The design approach was to create a building that forms a protected play yard, like a small village. Ten classrooms are grouped in pairs to form a series of “houses” with forms that blend into the historic residential neighborhood, and recall the vernacular shotgun-style residences of New Orleans.
Two different entrances serve a range of functions, while also including several layers of security integrated into the design. A fence with gate opens onto a welcoming covered breezeway for parents walking their children. The other building entry is a light-filled lobby off the parking lot, which has pervious pavers that slow down and store water to alleviate flooding. A wide covered porch wraps the courtyard playground, acting as a corridor that provides views across the entire mini campus, and doubles as outdoor gathering space.
