HMFH Architects

The German International School Boston, a bilingual independent school in Boston, engaged HMFH to transform a 10,000 sf commercial office space into an early education center. Working with a limited budget, an aggressive schedule, and an ambitious program that called for 14,000 sf of space, a key challenge of this project was to develop an efficient and creative design that would not only accommodate the program in just two-thirds of the requisite space, but do so in a manner that would transform the one-story, dark office building into a nurturing and stimulating learning environment for the preschool and kindergarten students.

The design of a staggered corridor emphasizes and defines a series of cubby-lined, child-scaled nooks outside each classroom. New skylights and soffits in the multi-purpose space and in each classroom mirror the geometry of the corridor nooks while bringing diffused daylight deep into the heart of each space.

What was formerly a conventional office building with rectangular rooms flanking a double-loaded corridor becomes a bright, cheerful and playful place where the school’s youngest can learn and thrive.