Children’s Day School
333 Dolores Street, San Francisco, California

Children’s Day School in an independent school tucked within the block across the street from Mission Dolores in San Francisco. Working with Jensen Architects, who has been engaged with the school since 2006 on phased improvements to the historic St. Joseph’s Hall, Miller Company developed a master plan for a school yard redesign responding to a proposed preschool building to replace several aging portable structures. Miller Company continued with schematic design and construction documentation after the planning phase.

A new play area featuring equipment from KOMPAN is proposed for the roof on the new one-story building, where a 125-year-old English Elm preserved in the courtyard below will provide afternoon shade. Program for the roof also includes a large sand play area, hand water pump and playhouse and a flexible hybrid wood deck. The requirement for access to the roof deck led to an innovative play surface detail supported on pedestals. The roof occupied space is surrounded by a new green roof.

The floor level of the new building is set at the same elevation as St. Joseph’s Hall and is set on a plinth with several access points to the schoolyard. With the new building, plinth and access taking up much of the previous schoolyard area, reprogramming to allow for a similar play experience while maintaining facilities operations was a special challenge. The solution focuses on preserving the established farm and garden area and relocating existing ISO containers used by facilities shops to delineate a series of play areas. A swale collecting runoff from the yard and container rooftops is programmed as a nature play and investigation area with two footbridges, providing a buffer between active and more quiet programs.

Natural materials are emphasized throughout the landscape. Native plant materials are used extensively, especially on the new vegetated roof of the pre-school building, providing food sources for local pollinators and the school’s honeybee colony. Wood from an existing California Bay Laurel will be re-used for furnishings and within the nature play area. A 3,000-gallon cistern will collect water from the facilities shops as a demonstration of the California water cycle. After storms, children will be able to release water through a spillway, onto boulders, before it flows along the swale and under footbridges, gradually infiltrating back into the earth.

MCLA Team: Jeffrey Miller, Michael Ingram
Completion Date: In Progress, expected 2024
Total Size: .75 acres (parcel)
8,487 sq. ft. (rooftop)
23,269 sq. ft. (on grade landscape)
Architect: Jensen Architects
Structural Engineer: Tipping Structural Engineer
Civil Engineer: SANDIS
General Contractor: Guzman Construction Group