DAYLIGHTING DELUXE CHILD
CARE
Creme de la Creme Child Care Centers
 Goldfish
swim in the stream under the wooden bridge you just crossed. You linger in the
village streets between perfect, one- and two-story houses and storefronts
plucked from a Victorian fantasy; a bit of the "Beauty and the Beast"
soundtrack lands gently on your ear. A small train choo-choos down its track as
young children within a jungle-themed theater giggle with delight. When it's
time to take a break from it all, they cool off in the nearby water
park.
"I think it's fair to say that it's not your typical child care
center," says Bruce Karpas, president of Creme de la Creme, a chain of high-end
nursery and preschools in Kansas, Texas, Colorado, Georgia and Illinois. It
feels like a theme park. Make that a maximum security theme park. Students
whose parents pay $12,000+ per year in tuition get safety as well as a fun,
high-quality, early childhood education. That explains the security guard, the
personal electronic entry codes and the forty surveillance cameras connected to
twenty monitors in the center's reception area.
What began as a handful
of centers in Houston and Atlanta in the 1980s is soon due to grow to well over
50 in the hands of Bob Russell (who bought the licensing rights in 1997 from
founders Don and Roberta Babb) and Karpas. Each stucco-and-stone Creme de la
Creme building is identical and construction budgets in the $5 million range
are typical. Inside are 21,000 square feet of classrooms (lessons include
computers, math, phonics and French); miniature tennis, soccer and basketball
facilities; TV, dance and music studios; and art rooms specially designed for
300 students up to kindergarten age. Daylighting the Victorian village portion
-- the center's main focus -- is a 32' high by 30' wide by 47' long skylight
system designed, engineered, manufactured, delivered and installed with
single-source responsibility by Structures Unlimited, Inc.
Structures
Unlimited's unique, aluminum box beam system and translucent Kalwall®
panels allow filtered, natural light to cover the village. Adds Karpas, "you
almost forget that you're not outside." The diffuse-light-transmitting
properties of Kalwall effectively illuminate the space with natural daylight
without the harsh glare, hot spots and shadows often associated with
traditional skylights and glazing. As in various schools across the country,
Structures Unlimited's controlled daylight is ideal for easy, glare-free
computer viewing. As an added benefit, the Structures Unlimited, Inc. Skylight
System significantly reduces the cost of electric lighting. Even on cloudy
days, an even balance of usable, natural light fills the interior. A light
transmission of 15% was specified for this project.
The Structures
Unlimited, Inc. Skylight System is comprised of pre-engineered, rigid frame,
aluminum box beams blended with Kalwall translucent panels to form a truly
unique, total composite system capable of clearspans up to 100 feet. Kalwall
itself is a structural composite sandwich panel formed by permanently bonding
specially formulated, fiberglass-reinforced translucent faces to a grid core
constructed of interlocked structural composite I-beams. The translucent
sandwich panels are laminated under a controlled process of heat and pressure
and are factory pre-fabricated.
During the manufacturing process,
Kalwall panels can be infilled with various densities of specialized
translucent insulation, greatly reducing heating and air conditioning costs.
The HVAC problems inherent with glass skyroofs are eliminated as the system
controls solar heat transmission. In the standard 2-3/4" (70 mm) Kalwall
panels, U-factor options range from .29 to as low as .10 for thermally broken
panels as tested and/or computer modeled according to NFRC-100 procedures
endorsed by the Department of Energy. The Structures Unlimited, Inc. thermally
broken system delivers the ultimate energy efficiency and condensation control.
Creme de la Creme child care centers specify a panel with a U-factor of .29, a
solar heat gain coefficient of 0.16, and diffuse-light transmission of
15%.
Consultant Larry Moore, who oversaw the construction of the
centers, knows all the numbers but just smiles. "We didn't really choose
Structures Unlimited and Kalwall for their considerable energy-saving factors.
We just thought their skylight system looked terrific." No artificial lighting
in the world can top controlled, natural daylight. When it comes to
installation, nothing can top Structures Unlimited's single-source
responsibility, either. "There were absolutely no problems with the
installation," Moore continues. "Structures Unlimited was fantastic at meeting
deadlines as well as budgets. We also chose Structures Unlimited for its
durability over time: both the product and the company." Like so many clients
before it, Creme de la Creme wanted the Structures Unlimited, Inc. translucent
Skylight System because of the company's outstanding quality, long track
record, excellent technical and staff assistance to architects, and true
one-source capability.
"We've used the Structures Unlimited, Inc.
Skylight System in every Creme de la Creme," says Moore. It makes perfect sense
that a child care center that teaches math, tennis and foreign language to
preschoolers would want only the very best!
Creme de la Creme Child Care
Centers
(www.cremedelacreme.com)
Kansas, Texas, Colorado, Georgia
and Illinois
Architect: Arete 3 Ltd., Overland Park, IL |
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