GMB Architecture + Engineering designed the Lake Orion Early Childhood Center for creative play in Lake Orion, Michigan.

The Early Childhood Center at Lake Orion Community Schools was designed to provide a safe and welcoming environment to the district’s earliest learners. The Early Childhood Center was previously housed in a small corner of Lake Orion’s old high school, and a new dedicated building for early childhood education makes learning opportunities and preparation accessible for all children in the community. The new building promotes a sense of pride and ownership, fostering community and a culture of equality of experience, with the guiding principle “We are all Dragons” and the playful dragon emblazoned on the side of the building.

Lake Orion voters passed a $160 million, 10-year bond in 2018 to fund capital improvements in the district, including a new early childhood education facility. This new space brings expanded levels of programming and education for the youngest students in the community, creating learning opportunities and pathways to success for all children in the district.

Every one of the 18 classrooms as well as the common spaces is designed with physical and useful durability in mind. Additionally, outdoor learning and access to natural elements such as wood, water, and vegetation provide students with new opportunities to explore, learn, and move. Transparency, color, and tactile surfaces blend the division between indoors and out, creating sensory experiences that vary depending on where they are in the building.

Design: GMB Architecture + Engineering
Photography: Mike Buck | M Buck Studio