Children's Institute, Inc.: News Article: National Attention for CII’s Otis Booth Campus and Koning Eizenberg Architecture

December 28, 2011

National Attention for CII’s Otis Booth Campus and Koning Eizenberg Architecture

Koning Eizenberg Architecture (KEA), the design team behind Children’s Institute’s new headquarters, the Otis Booth Campus, was featured in Metropolis Magazine’s December 2011 issue. The architectural and design publication profiles KEA’s sustainable design philosophy and examples of applying it to local and national projects such as CII.

Metropolis Magazine’s Christopher Hawthorne recounts his visit to the Otis Booth Campus:

“Some of the urban cacophony was visible—and audible—from the parking lot where I met [Julie] Eizenberg, her fingers wrapped around a paper coffee cup as she stood between the front door and a small strip of garden designed by Nancy Goslee Power & Associates. Once we stepped inside the building, the chaos melted away, replaced by an entryway that seemed both serene and full of energy at the same time. To the right, a mother played in the reception area with her two young boys; to the left, a rectangular sliding door framed in orange led the way to an art room.

Eizenberg walked me past the information desk and toward a double-height community room with a polished concrete floor, in the back. The space was overlooked by a mezzanine holding small counseling rooms and offices for the staff. It was immediately clear that the main goal of the architecture was to reduce the extent to which the services CII offers feel clinical or institutional—a playful spirit, and an interest in showing kids a consistently welcoming face, was paired with the very serious work that goes on there.”

To read the full article, “The Right Touch,” and view some beautiful photographs of the finished Otis Booth Campus, please click here.

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