Head Start Oak Harbor

HKP Ar­chi­tects worked with Sk­agit/​Is­lands Head Start on reimag­in­ing an ex­ist­ing two-story of­fice build­ing as the new Oak Har­bor Head Start Early Learn­ing Cen­ter. The pro­ject con­sists of a 5,535 square-foot first floor that ac­com­mo­dates class­rooms, con­trolled en­try, of­fices, re­strooms, and a kitchen. A 1,441 square-foot sec­ond floor con­sists of a staff lounge and ad­di­tional staff of­fices; ren­o­va­tion of the sec­ond floor was not in­cluded in the pro­ject due to bud­get con­straints.

The ex­ist­ing first floor was seg­re­gated into four dis­tinct work ar­eas ex­tend­ing from the south end to the north end of the build­ing. Each work area had an ex­ist­ing ex­te­rior door for egress. With the ex­ist­ing ex­te­rior doors pro­vid­ing code-re­quired egress for the class­rooms, a class­room lay­out was de­vised that reimag­ined the three east­ern-most work ar­eas as class­rooms.

The ex­te­rior of the build­ing was in des­per­ate need of imag­i­na­tion in or­der to trans­form it into a func­tional and safe space for child ex­plo­ration, learn­ing, and play. An ex­ist­ing di­lap­i­dated ex­te­rior deck and stair will be re­placed with a new deck, stair, and ramp en­sur­ing a safe and ac­ces­si­ble route is pro­vided from the build­ing to the new play­ground north of the build­ing. New fenc­ing will pro­vide a safe play area with pri­vacy from the ad­ja­cent park­ing lots and busi­nesses. Hills in­cor­po­rated into a new grass lawn al­low imag­i­na­tion and ex­plo­ration for all chil­dren. Play­ground equip­ment will be pro­vided by the owner at a later date as fund­ing al­lows.

With federal funding for the project, the design integrated requirements for the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) and the Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards (UFAS).