The Emmanuel Family and Child Development Center is an early-education facility and community resource center serving underserved neighborhoods in Kansas City. Its core service is operating the Kansas City’s second-largest early-education center, accommodating 380 children from infants through age five. The Center also provides mental-health, psychiatric, dental, and general health services to the community. Situated at a busy urban intersection and rapid-transit stop, the design balances two spatial and experiential conditions: one introverted, creating a calm, quiet interior environment, and the other extroverted, connecting the center to the surrounding neighborhood.

The building is organized around three courtyards that are “notched” into the exterior edges of the plan. The courtyards create semi-private outdoor spaces that are shaded and quiet while remaining visually connected to the activity of the surrounding city. A perforated metal screen wall wraps three sides of the building and the playground, acting as a “security blanket” around the site.