Family Matters
New Rice child care center helps keep kids healthy and happy
The new Rice Children’s Campus (RCC) doesn’t just meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards — it takes them by the hand and dances a waltz with them. Everything about the Chaucer Street building is graceful, from its five-point sawtooth roof with north-facing windows to its undulating blue entryway ceiling that’s more than a little reminiscent of ocean waves.
On the exterior, bands of bricks in colors like robin’s egg blue, bright yellow and sea foam green are interspersed with 10,000 tan bricks salvaged from the homes that once stood on the building site. “I didn’t anticipate how truly amazing they would look,” Rice Director of Sustainability Richard Johnson said of the recycled bricks. “They really help connect the building with the rest of the street, and that was made possible because we viewed the previous homes as potential resources. I’m very proud of that outcome.”
But recycled building materials aren’t the RCC’s only environmentally sensitive attribute. Among others are features that enable the building to enjoy an energy savings of about 20 percent over buildings that are simply built to code, including light sensors, programmable thermostats for each of five separate zones, double-paned energy-efficient windows and overhangs that block the strong southern sun. Other elements should result in substantial savings in domestic water consumption, such as water-efficient fixtures and one of the building’s most unconventional features — an 8,000-gallon underground rainwater cistern fed by collection sites on the building’s roof. The collected water will be used to irrigate the building’s landscape, which showcases local, low-maintenance plant species.
“Each classroom environment is equipped to ensure the success of all students, with teachers facilitating learning in five key areas: math, language, science, sensory development and everyday living skills.” —Lisa Hall
“Ordinarily, people don’t view storm water as a resource, but we did,” Johnson said, adding that Rice saved more than $200,000 by installing a cistern instead of a storm sewer.
The RCC is divided into four color-coded quadrants, with preschoolers in the southeast, toddlers in the southwest, infants in the northeast, and the support and teacher areas in the northwest. More than 80 students between the ages of 6 weeks and 5 years have enrolled at the school, which is operated by Metropolitan Montessori Schools through the Center for Early Childhood Education (CECE) and which employs the progressive Montessori method of instruction. With activities like art projects, songs, stories, lessons, recess and rest times, children are encouraged to satisfy their natural curiosity through learning and exploration. CECE is also working with the Rice School Literacy and Culture Project to provide a storytelling curriculum that has been proven to support and enhance childhood vocabulary knowledge and literary skills.
Learn more: www.discovercece.org“Each classroom environment is equipped to ensure the success of all students, with teachers facilitating learning in five key areas: math, language, science, sensory development and everyday living skills,” said Lisa Hall, a consultant with Rice University who acts as a liaison between the campus community and the operator. “Life lessons of respect, cooperation, appreciation of others, problem solving and responsibility are modeled and practiced on a daily basis by children and staff.”
The campus, which opened last September, has a maximum capacity of 86 students, who must be the children of Rice faculty, staff or students to be eligible for admission.