Photo By Diana McCoy | The final design for the Fort Leavenworth child development center project was...... read more read more
One of the biggest challenges our nation’s servicemembers and their families face is moving from installation to installation across the country, sometimes across the world, every couple of years. To help reduce the stress and uncertainty that servicemembers and their families can experience during a permanent change of station, the Army uses standard designs when constructing facilities on their installations. This helps to instill a sense of familiarity across installations.
Child development centers, perhaps some of the most critical facilities on an installation, are no exception. Fort Leavenworth, located in northeastern Kansas, is currently experiencing a shortage of space to accommodate the childcare needs of its military families. So, the installation has tasked the Kansas City District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, with the critical mission of constructing a brand-new 37,000 square foot child development center for over 300 children ranging in age from infant to five years old.
“Fort Leavenworth has needed [a new child development center] for quite some time,” said Carissa Brown, chief of architecture and interior design at the Kansas City District. “We helped provide a solution for their childcare needs.”
Although the facility was designed using a standard design, the team at the Kansas City District faced several unique challenges. The site of the facility is located near two streams and a main road on the installation. This resulted in some geotechnical and civil engineering challenges, which the team was eager to provide solutions for. Additionally, a facility dedicated to childcare requires unique considerations for safety and security.
“There were a lot of really unique challenges in the design beyond what we would typically see,” said Christina Gatewood, interior designer and technical lead for the project. “We were always considering what the children might be doing, how they will maneuver around the facility. You really do want those protective measures.”
Despite working within strict regulations, the team was able to incorporate some unique design elements into the final design. These small details will hopefully create a better experience for the children and families who use the facility.
“Our architect created a really nice entryway feature to the vestibule,” said Brown. “We also had one of our landscape architects create some really interesting colored paving designs leading up to the entrance … to create some interest for the children and families as they walk up to the facility.”
Because the new facility is a top priority for the Army, the design team worked closely with the customer, Fort Leavenworth, throughout the entire design process to ensure their expectations and timelines were met. Bi-weekly team meetings were an opportunity for everyone to come together and discuss the status of the project and work through any challenges they were experiencing.
Internally, the project was not only a chance to contribute to the Army’s commitment to improving quality of life for soldiers and their families, but it was also an opportunity for the team to sharpen their technical skills. Because it was done in-house, the design staff at the Kansas City District worked on the entirety of the design rather than contracting outside architect engineer firms to complete it.
“This was a great project, and we had a good team that mixed some junior designers with some senior designers” said Eric Shumate, chief of engineering at the Kansas City District. “It was both a success for delivering for the installation but also for developing our staff.”
According to Shumate, roughly 75% of military design work at the district is completed using outside architecture and engineering firms. So, to celebrate the in-house design completion, Col. Travis Rayfield, former commander of the Kansas City District, joined the team for the official signing of the design in May 2024, which was a major milestone of the project.
“It’s always a point of pride when we do an in-house design,” said Shumate. “It’s very satisfying for the team whenever we can [celebrate] that.”
Although the team was happy to celebrate the milestone of completing the design, their primary focus was providing a resilient facility for the servicemembers of Fort Leavenworth. For Gatewood, being a parent helped her understand the importance of completing the mission.
“As somebody who has kids and lets other people take care of them … you want someplace they can feel at home and happy,” she said. “For the parents that are navigating different installations, they can feel some sense of normalcy in childcare.”
The construction contract for the child development center was awarded in July 2024, and is expected to be complete in early 2027.
| Date Taken: | 07.23.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 07.23.2024 09:06 |
| Story ID: | 476798 |
| Location: | KANSAS CITY , MISSOURI, US |
| Web Views: | 31 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, ‘Someplace they can feel at home and happy’: Kansas City District completes design for new Fort Leavenworth child development center, by Christine Paul, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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