Hello 2022, Goodbye 2021

We are fortunate to be able to continue to do important work with our clients and partners in meaningful ways this past year. studioMLA Architects was a part of many projects and community involvement.

 

Edgerley Family Horizons Center

Photography: Rosemary Fletcher

Project Highlights

Brookline Center for Community Mental Health

Completed: January

The Brookline Center for Community Mental Health provides affordable mental health care and community-based social services to individuals and families. studioMLA Architects conducted a feasibility study followed by a renovation to improve functionality and user experience, including interior renovations, an exterior ramp for accessibility, and contributed to the landscape design.

Edgerley Family Horizons Center

Completed: April

The Edgerley Family Horizons Center provides critical services for the community with a focus on supporting families navigating the many complexities of homelessness. It features a STEM activity space, a children’s library and literacy center, and outdoor play and learning spaces. Indoor and outdoor spaces incorporate trauma-informed design strategies to better support the children and families Horizons serves, as well as the staff.

Sandwich Public Library

Completed: August

studioMLA Architects and David L. King Architects worked with the Sandwich Public Library to develop an ambitious program to re-imagine the library as a space that encourages community engagement and supports a broad variety of uses. The project protects and reinforces the library’s historic fabric and its dedication to reading, archival research, technology, and learning while making the spaces more open and contemporary.

Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Early Education Center at John Hopkins University

Completed: August

studioMLA worked with the Center’s staff and John Hopkins to design a nature-based space for infants and toddlers. We creatively fit a trike track, a sand play area with play counters, an interactive water spout with a dry stream bed and a play bridge, a play hill with an embankment slide planted with durable plant materials, a natural hollowed log, musical elements, gardening boxes, and trike storage.

Jim Greenman Early Education Innovation Center

Completed: August

studioMLA Architects worked on the Jim Greenman Early Education Innovation Center for the Bright Horizons World Headquarters. Previously used as office space for a technology company, it’s used now as the headquarters’ childcare center. The building was renovated from the inside and outdoor play areas were designed to provide children with nature-based play experiences. The Jim Greenman Early Education Innovation Center is the new prototype model for new Bright Horizons Childcare Centers.

Stone House

Completed: August

Stone House partners with more than 2,000 adult and children survivors of domestic violence and related trauma each year. studioMLA Architects designed the learning center and the playground for the center’s children.

Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program

Completed: August

studioMLA was the Architect-of-Record who worked with MASS Design Group (Design Architect) to create a new space for the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program that welcomes patients with natural light and colors. studioMLA did the fit-out of the existing space, adjacent to Horizons for Homeless Children on the 3rd floor.

Ellis Early Education Center

Completed: September

studioMLA worked with Ellis, the center director, and staff to create a play space that reflected their program and curriculum goals. The play space includes a playful climber made of natural wood, a log-edged sand play area, a trike track, water tables, indigenous trees, sensory paintings, a wood pergola for shade, and gardening boxes.

Lycée Français de San Francisco Master Plan

Completed: December

studioMLA collected valuable feedback through a range of data collection strategies while research goals aimed to identify and prioritize challenges and opportunities. This analysis transformed raw data into guiding principles that are grounded in integrated research and work together to design a built environment that supports programmatic elements of a well-rounded education.

MassBay Community College

Completed: Ongoing

We’re working with MassBay Community college to reimagine two of their most valued student resource spaces into one cohesive “learning commons.” The aim of this feasibility study is to find efficiency within their current programs and discover new opportunities when they come together.

Project Highlights

The Past Year… 

studioMLA was featured in High Profile Monthly: Kaplan, studioMLA Complete Edgerley Family Horizons Center, and CEDAC’s blog: Designing the Edgerly Family Horizons Center as a Welcoming, Trauma-Informed Space for Families.

studioMLA provided training on the design of childcare and outdoor play spaces for organizations including the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP) and Local Initiatives Support Coalition-Rhode Island (LISC-RI). studioMLA participated in 2021 Starry Night Boston. The studioMLA team and UMass Amherst Department of Architecture hosted Architecture & Design Industry Night at Brookline Teen Center (BTC) and discussed what it is to be an architect and landscape architect to young teens.

Upcoming Spring…

National Indian Child Care Association (NICCA) National Academy Conference: March 1-2

The National Coalition for Campus Children’s Center (N4C) 50th Annual Conference & Professional Development: March 21-25

  • Monday, March 21 – Designing for Wellness (Dr. Amy Wagenfield & Joanne Hiromura)
  • Tuesday, March 23 – Enhancing Community Engagement: Learning from Community Centers with Child Care at Their Core (Mike Lindstrom)
  • Wednesday, March 23 – Sensory-Rich Play Environments (Dr. Amy Wagenfield & Joanne Hiromura)
  • Wednesday, March 23 – Leveraging On-Campus Childcare as Part of the “New Normal” (Mike Lindstrom)

World Forum on Early Care and Education Conference: May 16-19

The Brookline Fund to Increase Diversity in Architecture & Design:  On-Going