This new 30,000 sq. ft. Family Care Center is located within the Southfields Corporate campus and provides convenient daycare and after school services for the children of the campus' Merrill Lynch employees.
The single-story center is nestled into the edge of a "green ring" of existing and man-made woods and wetlands that surround the campus center.  Two separate 150-child wings serve a total of 300 children.  Each "modular" wing is divided into two separate "family" blocks connected by a communal living room and punctuated by a shared art room.  The blocks serve to break down the scale of the facility while providing children with identifiable "homes".  High, glass-filled gabled roofs express the art room, living room and waiting area while exposed wood trusses and decking provide warmth and a "sense of place" that differentiate these areas from the typical classroom.  The walls of the main corridor subtly express differing functions.

Large bay windows, supplemented by pendant mounted indirect light fixtures, afford the classrooms abundant light.  A door in each classroom's bay window provides an entry directly to an outdoor play area.  These entries are further emphasized with low, curved, brow-like canopies that provide a playful element against the mainly brick facade.