The Evergreen State College Campus Children's Center Project Description For seventeen years The Evergreen State College's Campus Children's Center provided care and education for up to 42 young children of students and faculty in a former agricultural building. In January 2004 an extensively remodeled and enlarged center opened to care for up to 70 children, including infants for the first time. The goals for the project included creating a healthy environment in an energy and resource efficient building. The child care center site is on the edge of campus, within walking distance of student housing and campus parking areas. The site is bounded by mature woods, open fields and an access road. Design & Sustainability Design strategies and features included: •  Locating classrooms along the south side of the building to take advantage of the solar exposure. •  Three classroom volumes fan across the site, connected by a circulation spine which provides a Parent Resource Area and a quiet nook at interstitial spaces. •  Daylight modeling identified the placement and size of the windows to maximize natural light. •  Large areas of south-facing windows are shaded during the cooling season by translucent canopy roofs that also allow the winter sun to warm the classrooms. •  Operable windows are located to optimize natural ventilation, eliminating the need for air conditioning. Natural ventilation modeling determined the appropriate number of operable windows to maintain desired comfort levels. •  Gas-fired, in-floor radiant heat places the warmth directly at the level of the primary facility users – the children. •  Low-V.O.C. materials are used throughout to minimize toxic elements in the indoor environment •  Expanding the Outdoor Play Area into the adjacent woods provides a shady area as well as opportunities for new play activities and experiences with the surrounding forested environment. •  Treating site storm water with a new bio-swale before discharging into adjacent natural surface water systems to create a “zero run-off” facility.