Architect appointed for new child care facility

University Park, Pa. — Penn State's Board of Trustees on Friday (May 16) appointed Horizons Design of Brookline, Mass., to design a new child-care center on the University Park campus.
   
Horizons Design specializes in architectural services in the design of environments for children.
   
The new center will replace the Child Development Laboratory (CDL), currently located in Henderson South Building. The CDL will be demolished to make room for a proposed addition to Henderson Building.
   
The new child care facility will be approximately 18,000 gross square feet, accommodating 170 children of University faculty, staff and students. It will be located at the southeast corner of Park Avenue and Allen Road next to Hort Woods.
   
Plans for the center were announced in January, when it was noted that the center will be operated using a mixed-age group philosophy and will include 10 groups of eight children aged 6 weeks to 35 months; and five groups of 18 children aged 36 months to 72 months. It is anticipated that the center will open in summer 2010.
   
The University previously has made significant commitments to child care. Penn State’s investments in child care at University Park have included renovating space on campus; providing start-up funds for the Daybridge Center at Innovation Park; building the Bennett Family Center; providing the facility, janitorial services, utilities, landscaping, maintenance fees and annual subsidies for both the Child Development Lab (CDL) and the Bennett Family Center; and establishing a mentoring/training program for Family Child Care Home Providers in Centre County.
   
For more on the new center, visit http://live.psu.edu/story/27940.