Nov 16, 2007

Board OKs Google child center

City asks for more color, whimsy in day care's design

By Kristina Peterson / Daily News Staff Writer

A Palo Alto review board Thursday unanimously approved plans Thursday for a new Google child care center next to the Baylands Nature Preserve, but asked project planners to show a little more imagination in converting the bland office building that would house it.

Though largely impressed with plans for the 18,500-square-foot Bayshore Children's Center, members of Palo Alto Architectural Review Board said they hope the building when redone will be more colorful and playful than what Google's design shows.

The two-story child care center at 3803 E. Bayshore Road, right at the edge of the preserve, will likely accommodate about 80 children of Google employees and 25 staff members, said senior project manager David Blitz of the Staubach firm. The center is expected to open late next spring or summer, he said.

Google also operates a child care center in Mountain View, but did not return e-mails asking whether the new center will replace its "Kinderplex" center, whose lease is slated to expire in June. Blitz said the Palo Alto site was chosen because of its proximity to the Baylands.

The city will receive slightly more than $96,000 in development impact fees, according to a staff report.

While board members acknowledged the ideal location of the center, many said the design could be jazzed up with dashes of contrasting colors and more creatively designed balcony railings.

"There's room for something wonderful and whimsical that hasn't happened," said board member Heather Trossman.

Much of the board's criticism centered on the earth-tone paints picked for the building's exterior.

Converted from an existing office building, the center would be painted a sage green, with linen colored accents, said project manager Leslie Geathers of Dorman Associates.

"We're used to affiliating large, bright colors with children, but that can be too much stimuli for children," Geathers said. Instead, the planners aimed for a palette of "warm, soft colors ... meant to invoke a home more than going to a carnival," she said.

Board Member David Solnick said while he appreciates that children "don't want to live in Great America all the time," more contrast between the exterior's main paint color and the accent used to highlight recessed panels would create a facade with more depth.

Project manager Chris Dorman of Dorman Associates said the subdued colors were chosen in part to blend the building with the marshes.

"We were influenced by the location to diminish impacts," he said. "I didn't know we could look at more extravagant colors."

The board also requested that planners make a stairwell railing more continuous with a wavy balcony on the center's second floor, but praised the proposed play area and the building's incorporation of natural views in the areas intended for teachers.

An environmental impact report found that the center would have no major negative effect on the nearby preserve.

"This is a great place for a child care center," said Board Member Judith Wasserman. "If I were a kid, that's where I'd want to be."

E-mail Kristina Peterson at
kpeterson@dailynewsgroup.com.