The Blake School Early Learning Center

The Blake School Early Learning Center was founded to encourage discovery, exploration, and curiosity among its 165 young students, pre-kindergarten through first grade. Educators wanted to use their new building as a teaching tool, so they worked with architects at HGA to create a functional yet playful facility that connects children with nature. The structure, which features exposed glulam beams and columns throughout, also forms a natural connection with Blake Forest, a state-certified teaching forest and outdoor classroom located next to campus. 
 
The 36,000-square-foot, two-story building is organized around a multi-level commons that hosts dining, gathering, teaching, and reading activities. Set into a hillside, the commons is anchored by a broad wooden staircase paired with a slide. It is designed for maximum access and porosity, welcoming visitors from entrances at the north and west and extending into courtyards at the east and south. A lofted library hovers above the dining area, while a canary yellow stair delivers first graders directly outside. Overhead, a set of three figural light monitors, each with its own shape and orientation, provide different qualities of sunlight throughout the day.  
 
To meet both sustainability and budget goals, architects chose a hybrid configuration for the Type V-B structure, combining mass timber beams and columns with a concrete slab over steel composite decking. The clean, engaging design relies on simple forms and blocks of color, placing a heavy emphasis on natural materials and daylighting; even windows are placed at child height. 
 
Primary ductwork for the all-electric building was routed underground, allowing a clear expression of the timber. Beams, rounded on the ends to form playful shapes, run on either side of the columns; the double-beam configuration allowed designers to tuck electrical and fire protection systems in between. Cloud-shaped acoustical panels fit the larger spaces between beams and hide mechanical systems. Interior beams and columns were made using southern yellow pine, while naturally-durable Alaska yellow cedar was used for beams that cantilever  
past perimeter wall columns to form exterior balconies and shade canopies. 
 
As a Group E occupancy building with an occupant load of more than 50, the Early Learning Center was required to have a storm shelter. These shelters are typically constructed using concrete or masonry, but HGA incorporated theirs into the 3,000-square-foot movement studio, designing a special glulam beam/concrete roof deck assembly to meet the requirements. The timber beams, 48 inches deep and 50 feet long, are specially connected to the composite roof slab to resist uplift forces; they also carry a 2-hour fire rating. The innovative design demonstrated mass timber’s suitability for use in this important application. 
 
The innovative use of mass timber is one reflection of The Blake School’s commitment to sustainability. This LEED Gold-certified project is also the first all-electric, zero-emission non-collegiate educational building in Minnesota.