Dragonflies Discovery Preschool

Let nature be your teacher.

The Dragonflies Discovery Preschool is a new stand alone campus and the latest addition to the nature based preschool programming developed by the Outdoor Discovery Center of Holland, Michigan.

Sited on a portion of an abandoned airfield, the Dragonflies Discovery Preschool was located to maximize the students interaction with different ecological zones of the site while providing shelter from inclement weather. Recalling the agrarian architectural vernacular in the surrounding area, the preschool was conceived as simple and functional gable roofed rectangular forms, and clad in weathered wood.

Site Strategy

Inspired by the native Michigan ecology, the site design splits the 11 acre site into 3 separate eco zones: Wetland, Forest, and Prairie. A buried county drain culvert will be daylighted to increase water quality and be integrated into the Wetland zone of the site.

Floorplan

The school is broken down into 3 pods containing 5 classrooms and an administration area which is arranged in a “U” to create an interior courtyard that is open to the south.

The buildings provide shelter from wind and weather for the interior courtyard, and exposure to the warming sun from the south. All of the circulation is contained in open air covered “corridors”. Each classroom has a covered gathering area connected to an outdoor classroom where the students will spend the majority of their time.