Date/Time: November 6, 2026 | 2:15 – 3:15 pm

Room: TAHOMA 1

Abstract: The United States is facing a childcare crisis, and with it, the face of early childhood education is changing. Many communities are pivoting to funding early childhood education through public funds, and many school districts are pivoting to providing larger-scale early childhood educational facilities within their communities. However, the US lacks long-term experience with Early Childhood Centers as a typology. With a travel grant from the AIA and the Architectural Education Foundation, the speaker embarked on a trip through Northern Europe, asking one simple question: with over 100 years of experience building Kindergartens and Early Childhood Centers, what lessons can European designers and educators teach us? Part ethnographic analysis, part case study, the end-result is a research-backed design process and tool kit that can help designers, planners, and school districts better understand the approach and details that support high-quality Early Childhood Center design. Participants will engage with the research in an interactive approach, designing their own Early Childhood Center, beginning with the big picture by targeting high-level desired outcomes and proficiencies, then exploring its implications in form and organization, and finally thinking through the details that will encourage student and staff well-being within the building.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand the differences in funding, pedagogy, and approach to Early Childhood Education in Finland, Germany, and Denmark as compared to the United States.
2. Learn how legislative directives such as desired outcomes and proficiency standards trickle down into pedagogical approach and building design.
3. Explore how building organization, site design, and even whimsy impact young children, their families, and educators.
4. Learn about the building-blocks of European ECC design, and the details that support student and staff health and wellbeing in ECC facilities.