Alma Street Childcare Centre

The Alma Street Childcare Centre is a council-operated facility dedicated to the care and wellbeing of children. It accommodates a range of community services, including childcare, training and support for childcare staff, and a before-and-after-school care program for the neighbouring primary school.

The design prioritises simplicity and robustness, ensuring the building is accessible, inclusive, and child-safe. It fosters interaction, learning, and curiosity, positively shaping the social and educational experiences of its young users. Simultaneously, it provides a high-quality working, training, and support environment for childcare staff.

The building has been designed for flexibility, durability, and a long lifespan. Its adaptability is enhanced by straightforward, open, and context-sensitive planning. Energy and resource efficiency, alongside thoughtful material sourcing, were integral considerations throughout the design process.

Situated on a sloping site, the building achieves single-level, universal accessibility while repurposing a pre-existing storage facility as outlined in the project brief. The design also maintains view lines from neighbouring residential properties and minimises excavation, influencing the building’s positioning and volume.

Activity spaces are strategically planned to maximise natural light and landscape views, creating seamless spatial flow and visual connections between internal and external environments.

A key planning strategy mirrors two principal rooms tailored for infants and primary-aged children, around a centralised service zone. Each activity room opens directly to adjacent outdoor areas. The infant courtyard, designed around a planted mature tree, which in time will provide summer shade and seasonal colour change. The other, a partly covered play-scape for older children.

The interplay between curved and linear forms enhances spatial fluidity and playfulness in both indoor and outdoor settings. These features are further complemented by varying ceiling heights, translucent façade elements, selective use of colour, and strong connections to the surrounding landscapes.

Close collaboration between the architect and landscape architect resulted in a harmonious integration of built and natural elements. Thoughtfully co-ordinated engineering solutions contributed to effective and efficient design outcomes, evidenced by variation cost increases of less than 2% during construction.

Beyond its role as a childcare facility, the centre was envisioned by the Council as a vital community asset. Together with the adjacent administration building, the centre includes resources such as a carer resource library and meeting rooms, enabling home-based and other carers to connect, collaborate, and learn. This integration strengthens community bonds and ensures the centre’s ongoing relevance.