Educational Toys

Kids Loft for the Early Education Lab

Introduction

I am the proud parent of a college student, he attends one of the finest institutions of the UC California system, but he is only 3 years old. Of course he is part of an amazing early education lab where he receives great care and education while real college students explore and practice details of human development.

A while back the educators running the center decided to create an indoor play area for one of the classrooms, by doing this they would create a special area while gaining some square footage. Since they already had a loft in another classroom the idea was to replicate the concept.

Since I have a background in architectural design and drafting I volunteered to study the old loft and design and generate drawings for the new one.

My work and the work of the volunteer parents who built the project has been very rewarding, we see day by day how our children enjoy this space. The magnificent staff at the early education lab use the space so creatively, they change the theme constantly: one week it is a spaceship, the next one a supermarket, and birthday party theme the next week, etc. I believe the upstairs is “The Office” by default.

I want to share this project with anybody who can use ideas for the education and entertainment of little people, in a classroom, or anywhere children may enjoy it to enrich their lives.

Disclaimer

I am providing below all of the dimensioned drawings you may need to build this project and a list of material that excludes hardware such as nuts and bolts.

It is your responsibility to comply to local or applicable building codes in your area. I do not recommend attaching the Kids Loft to the structure of a building unless you have calculations and instruction by a certified structural engineer. This project should be implemented by someone proficient in carpentry to a level where he or she may determine the best system to attach the pieces, for that reason I don’t provide hardware information.

This Loft was designed for preschoolers ages 3+, critical dimension such as stairs and clearances need to be adjusted accordingly if building it for another age group (older kids). I do not recommend it’s use by younger kids, such as infants or young toddlers.

The Kids Loft was designed to fit a specific space within a building, verify your existing conditions to make sure that you have enough room, and that the loft don’t conflict with other furniture, utilities nor fixtures.

Increasing the square footage of the loft may require additional support components and reinforcement. It is not advised.

You need to provide appropriate padding in certain areas to prevent bumps, particularly underneath the stairs.

Don’t leave young children unattended in the Kids Loft, etc, etc, etc.

Conceptual Design

These plans were drafted using 3D software to facilitate the design and the building process. These are the 3D views and render generated in Revit Architecture.

(click to enlarge all images and plans)

Set of Plans

The set of plans show accurate dimensions in inches, if you need dimension in the metric system you may be able to use the Building Information Modeling (BIM) software file to convert the annotations in Revit, or Auto CAD? See the final notes.

The drawings are not to scale, obviously.

Floor Plan Framing

Plywood Detail

Walls Construction Detail

Wall Top Pieces

Front Elevation

Side Elevation

Section

Stair Details

Materials List

A complete list of materials which is published in the following Google Docs public document, please follow the link.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AlDWcHvXuHJmdHEzdUtwNjlpaGExTkxscC1lN2hib1E

Please use the space below if there are questions or comments.

Photos

Final Notes

The Kids Loft is free, if you think somebody may need a special space for children to create worlds of fantasy, just share this post, and volunteer to build it.

This drawings were generated in Autodesk® Revit Architecture as part of the Assistance Program for unemployed professionals, very cool of their part. Revit drawings are available upon request.

Please do not sell or use this project for commercial purposes.