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Ossining Children’s Center

About This Project

The Ossining Children’s Center has been a fixture of the local community for over 100 years and the goal of this project was to continue that tradition while bringing the facility into the 21st century. The new 28,000sf Arthur Samberg Building is a 3-story purpose-built childcare facility that replaced and consolidated OCC’s former outdated Victorian buildings. The structure is thoughtfully oriented on a 2.5-acre site to work within site limitations and optimize the views of the Hudson River. The program includes 14 classrooms for up to 225 children in age groups ranging from infants up to 12-year-olds. The facility also includes outdoor play areas for each age group, administration space, kitchen and a multipurpose space that can be used for indoor play, lunch and community events.

A rendering of the elevation.

The exterior aesthetic of the facility blends traditional and contemporary design approaches that creates a modern, progressive, and nurturing home-like learning environment while allowing the new building to fit within the aesthetic of the adjacent residential scale buildings on State Street.

Main lobby and color accented corridors.

The main lobby sets a fun and welcoming tone, and each floor is grouped by age and marked by their own accent color helping kids with wayfinding. The age-appropriate classrooms contain in-room bathrooms and changing facilities and provide extensive daylighting and direct access to outdoor learning/play spaces.

The Multipurpose room and the outdoor play areas and playing fields.lds.

The Multipurpose Room provides a much needed indoor recreation and event space with direct views of the river. Lastly, the partially below grade portion of the building was utilized as a main design feature that allowed for a roof top play area and created a terraced outdoor space that defined the lower play area and field.