We treated Pre-K Academy at West Avenue as many children's first school experience. A 65-year-old elementary campus became a full-day pre-K school serving nearly 400 four-year-olds, so the building needed to feel new, safe, and welcoming while still belonging to the neighborhood.

We organized 20 classrooms around clear circulation and shared learning zones. Each room supports about 20 students with direct access to handwashing, storage, and small group work. Dual language classrooms sit across the campus so Spanish and English stay visible as equal parts of daily life.

Specialty spaces extend learning beyond the classroom. Museum rooms, a market room, and a farm room work as immersive environments, not regular rooms. Every surface, prop, and material is selected for role play, counting, language, and problem solving.

Loose Parts Lab, an Under the Sea atrium, and a Mud Kitchen give children room to build, test, and get messy in a controlled way. These spaces sit close to classrooms and outdoor play, so teachers move between structured instruction and open exploration without losing supervision.

The entry sequence, walkways, and signage mark the school as a dedicated early childhood campus. The front door, lobby, and corridors scale to small children but stay legible for parents, with clear views, strong color cues, and simple wayfinding.

The goal stays simple. Give each four-year-old a first school whose spaces feel joyful and serious at the same time. A place where play, language, and early STEAM experiences reach into every corner of the building, and families see their investment in pre-K reflected in the architecture.