Jesse Ketchum

Child Care Centre

Toronto

The oldest child care facility in Toronto was first established in 1954 in this free-standing building located in a school yard. The two-storey industrial building was constructed in 1912 as a WWI munitions factory. The centre accommodates 90 children from infants to school age.

The design strategy takes advantage of the east-west orientation of the building, situating all children's program spaces towards the south to bring in natural light. Circulation is located to the north, with a service core of washrooms, change rooms and storage in-between.

The basement contains the kitchen, staff room, and the program space for older children. Infants, toddlers and preschoolers inhabit the ground floor, with kindergarten through school age children on the third floor.

A varied palette of materials is used to encourage the children sense of discovery and to take advantage of the qualities of the existing structure. Heavy wood columns, beams and floors, as well as the interior brick walls are exposed; ducts are revealed to encourage curiosity about how buildings work.