Innovative child care center designed by team of experts Husky Center nurtures child's optimal development   SAN RAFAEL, CA (BUSINESS WIRE) - As the child care debate rages, a team of experts has built its beliefs into a building: the Husky Child Development Center. The prototype child care center shows that the facility itself can provide the sense of safety and positive stimuli children need in order to feel secure andgrow optimally. The new Center was built for Husky Injection Molding Systems Inc. in Bolton, Ontario. Headed by developmental psychologist Anita Rui Olds, Ph.D., world renowned for her pioneering work in designing environments for children, the team includes architect Barbara Winslow and interior design/color specialist Carla Mathis. The group capitalized on theirdiverse backgrounds to create a day care setting vastly different from today's more institutional facilities. Most day care centers rely entirely on the staff to nurture a child's development. The Husky Center shows that the environment can be another teacher, encouraging individuality, creativity and the healthy growth of children. The team used human-scaled architectural elements, a home-like layout, furnishings, color and lighting, and ethnic and hand-crafted details to design the unique setting. "Research shows that the sensory environment children confront in their early years can promote or inhibit a child's physical, emotional, social and intellectual development," said Dr. Olds, director of The Child Care Design Institute at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and Tufts University. "As day care, not home, is today's primary child-rearing habitat, our challenge is to create day care facilities that provide a nurturing context for children's healthy development." The Center is based on Olds' unique "residential core" model, which breaks a large facility into small "houses." Each house consists of age-specific rooms that open onto a common living/dining/kitchen area, which children, parents and staff share as a family. Different "zones" in each room define a variety of play areas important to the curriculum. Designed by Winslow, partner in Jacobson, Silverstein and Winslow and co-author of The Good House, the layout supports freedom of movement and the development of community. "Children suffer little or no separation anxiety when they come to the Husky Center," said Mathis. "Our use of residential colors, furnishings and design helps children feel like they're walking into a visual hug, a work of art where they can explore, discover, rest, and relate to others."