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The Anchor Center for Blind Children

16,290 sq ft New Facility, Denver, Colo.

The Anchor Center for Blind Children is a nonprofit organization founded in 1982 to provide educational and therapy services for visually impaired children from birth to age five. Each year, 100 children are served on site and 300 more are served by outreach programs and home visits around the state.

The new school in the Stapleton neighborhood of Denver is acoustically suited to the needs of blind and partially sighted students. As children with visual impairments tend to be sensitive to light and can perceive color, classrooms feature specifically colored and textured walls to benefit "way finding." A sensory garden, bridge and customized playground offer safe places for climbing and riding tricycles. Concrete paths have progressively closer control joints to give children a sense of approaching the front door. Several times during the building’s construction the Fransen Pittman team provided hands-on tours of the project in progress to Anchor Center students.
Design by Davis Partnership Architects
Images © Jackie Shumaker Photography

Nonprofit