After the big success of the first five childcare facilities that BASE and Scientific Art Studio built in 2024, BASE embarked on a second series of nine childcare facilities located in San Francisco in collaboration with the Low Impact Investment Fund (LIIF) and Dorman Associates, Inc.

 

This time the facilities included four family care centers: Delia’s little Angels, Billy Goats, La Bamba and Lucy Kwok; and five childcare/preschool centers: Faces, Felton MLK, Wu-Yee Kirkwood, YMCA Mission and YMCA LCOS. The last 3 preschool centers received CalFire Grants for the renovation of the outdoor spaces.

 

As the first series of projects, the mission of each of these new projects is to transform the existing centers into spaces that connect children to nature, utilizing only natural materials and engaging discovery, curiosity, and exploration. As part of these projects, BASE also lead a series of community engagements to inform the centers about the benefits of nature play and to hear their individuals’ needs and desires. During the concept design phase, BASE was following the general mission of reconnecting children with nature and making sure to highlight the spirit of the place in each site, supporting through design their site-specific ecological processes.

 

After the concept phase, BASE moved on to the design development and construction documentation phases. Currently the projects are in permit review, bidding process or under construction! We hope to see all these projects completed by the end of 2025.

 

We are very excited to be a part of such a great team of designers, thinkers, and stakeholders who are all passionate about transforming these sites into creative and playful natural environments for the children who need it the most. Each of the centers will be an oasis of nature, providing the opportunity to children to invent new forms to relate with the environment.