Early Learning Village

Following Hurricane Katrina, the Louisiana Children’s Museum adapted its mission to respond to the changing needs of its recovering community. The museum’s Early Learning Village (ELV), located in New Orleans City Park, will fulfill this expanded role by focusing on the enrichment of children and the lives of their families. Mithun is leading a collaborative interdisciplinary process that connects people and nature in an experiential sequence, moving visitors through groves of live oaks, across water, and into three courtyards that portray three vanishing landscapes of Louisiana.

ELV’s 92,000 sf facility features three buildings that are carefully sited to protect existing live oaks by creating shaded facades and courtyards. Children are encouraged to explore water via a path that crosses onto porches, under canopies, through dense native bamboo and up to outdoor bridges—providing changing views of the neighboring lagoon. The project co-locates a children’s museum with centers for literacy, parenting, early childhood research, nature, and childcare, helping to unite services with enrichment, which together promote quality of life and family relationships.


Read more: http://mithun.com