2007 was a big year for Education in the Gardner/Fox portfolio. We completed 3 very different, yet equally important, projects in the community. This week we decided to showcase all three!

El Centro Comunal Borincano Daycare is a child care facility that helps low-income families in the Camden area by providing childcare, health services, and nutrition counseling. Gardner/Fox built their brand new, state-of-the-art, Martin Luther King Boulevard facility in 2007. The project included complete site development and the construction of a three-story, 16,900 square-foot preschool. The new facility included a commercial kitchen, support offices, meeting rooms, classrooms, and a hydraulic elevator. This location was double the size of their original and gave El Centro the space to help 165 new children in the area.

There is quite an age gap between El Centro and the next project of 2007, The Lang Center at Swarthmore College. The Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility helps to prepare the students at Swarthmore for public service and advocacy, as well as serves as a meeting space for campus groups. Gardner/Fox provided the center with structural alterations and two new entrance vestibules. Other construction details included all new finishes installed throughout the center, new fire safety systems, new water and sanitary services, and an updated HVAC system for a more comfortable learning atmosphere.

The education trifecta of 2007 is complete with Barnwell Library. During this renovation, Gardner/Fox completed the restoration of the historic high school library at Central High in Philadelphia. The work included the restoration of the historic ceiling and light fixtures, as well as the construction of all new mezzanines, a new technology center, classrooms, and an alumni archival room. The finish details required extensive cherry millwork, to match the original millwork in the space. The most important piece of this renovation was the installation of new 40,000-volume bookshelves, that’s a lot of reading.