New Children’s Center Underway at Boston University

BOSTON, MA – Construction is underway on an expanded facility for Boston University (BU) Children’s Center, a full-time early childhood education program for children of BU faculty and students.

Boston University Chidren's Center

An existing, historic 17,000-square-foot house at 10 Lenox Street in Brookline, MA, will be fully renovated and Kaplan Construction will build a new 3,000-square-foot building in the demolished space that will connect to the main facility. The house will undergo a complete rehabilitation with structural updates, new stairs and elevator, new utility services, and all new mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) systems.

The outdoor area will feature a combination of natural and manufactured play spaces, and several mature trees will be preserved to achieve a backyard-like atmosphere.

Once completed, the Children’s Center will have the necessary space to accommodate separate infant, toddler, pre-K, and preschool classrooms; free play areas; and indoor gross-motor areas. The building is being designed to meet LEED certification and will be ADA accessible. The Center is scheduled to open in Spring 2020.

Featured

  • Designing for Every Mind

    Learning environments have the power to shape not just what students know, but who they become. When a school is designed with genuine empathy—for the full range of ways students think, sense, and engage with the world—it becomes more than a building. It becomes a catalyst for growth, confidence, and belonging. That is the animating idea behind neurodiverse design, and it is one that is transforming how more architects and designers are thinking about school design.

  • Virginia Tech Tops Out New College of Engineering Building

    Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., recently celebrated the topping out of Mitchell Hall, which will soon stand as the largest College of Engineering building on campus, according to a news release. The university partnered with Skanska on the 285,500-square-foot facility, which has an expected completion date of winter 2028.

  • Q&A: How to Prevent Kitchen Grease Fires in Commercial Kitchens

    School cafeterias and university dining halls serve thousands of meals daily, relying on high-heat equipment like fryers, grills, and ovens. While these operations keep students fed, they also generate significant grease-laden vapors. Without proper controls, this grease becomes a silent fire threat. As a certified exhaust cleaning specialist and business coach who has helped hundreds of institutional facilities achieve NFPA 96 compliance, I emphasize that proactive grease management isn’t optional; it’s a core fire/life safety practice.

  • Tomball ISD Opens New Tomball West High School

    Tomball Independent School District in Tomball, Texas, recently celebrated the official opening of Tomball West High School, the district's third comprehensive high school, with a community ribbon-cutting ceremony, according to a district news release.