United Way of Miami Dade Center for Excellence

The United Way of Miami Dade created the Center for Excellence to “raise the bar” for early education quality in Florida serving 116 children. The United Way of Miami developed a project mission of developing the premier child development center in South Florida as well as an integrated training and research facility intended to raise the level of child care quality throughout the state. Working with two prominent adjacent sites on Coral Way in Miami, the design team worked to create a campus including the United Way Headquarters, The Center for Excellence and an eight-story parking structure. The 24,391 SF Center for Excellence has a state-of-the-art childcare facility that integrates multiple opportunities for observation and is designed as a demonstration center with each classroom and enhancement space exhibiting diverse spatial and environmental qualities. The second floor contains adult classroom space as well as a children’s performing arts space and spaces dedicated to training community childcare providers.

Our firm worked hand in hand with the United Way team to create welcoming spaces to support the bilingual/multicultural program. Architecturally at home in its eclectic Miami neighborhood, the center is the only building in the EduCare network not designed on the EduCare “Model.”