Little Lamb Preschool

At Gunkel Architecture, we believe that community is an empowering force that provides us with the support and resources we need to thrive. As such, our dedication to community is a guiding principal for much of the work that we do (whether it be affordable housing, cohousing, co-living, community centers, food banks or community kitchens). This mission extends to the youngest members of our community as well as their families and is represented in the work that we do to create nurturing environments for children to learn and grow.

It is with great excitement that we celebrate the completion of Little Lamb Preschool in El Cerrito, CA. The owners of Little Lamb came to us because they had outgrown their prior facility and needed to expand in order to serve the needs of their community. They had purchased a vacant infill lot in El Cerrito and were working on a tight budget and timeline. Together with the owners, we looked at numerous options, eventually settling on the use of a pre-manufactured metal building system most-commonly used for warehouses and agricultural buildings.

Gunkel Architecture worked closely with the owners to program the space, and with the metal building manufacturers to coordinate how a utilitarian building shell could be modified to meet the needs of the facility while maintaining the cost and schedule savings such a building system can provide. We also worked closely with the El Cerrito Planning Department and Design Review Board to assure that the building was well-articulated, playful and rich in color, depth and texture.

In order to meet budgetary constraints while also planning ahead for increased demand over time, we designed for two stories within the building shell but initially only finished out the ground floor. The new Little Lamb facility opened up recently and the first floor is quickly filling up. We are now working on finishing out the second floor to accommodate the continuously increasing demand for high-quality early childhood education that serves the children and families of the greater East Bay community.

Economic diversity is one of the hot topics at this year’s National Cohousing Conference (which will be held in Denver August 1st – 4th). Brad Gunkel will be one of the featured speakers and will be leading a workshop on affordable community models.

During this workshop, Brad will look slightly outside the traditional cohousing model to find creative solutions to affordability. He will explore multiple cohousing-related community models, the opportunities they offer for increased affordability, and the potential compromises associated with each.

Our development partners (UD+P and Cohousing Solutions) will be at the conference highlighting two exciting cohousing projects we have in progress (Berkeley Moshav and Mission Peak Village).

We look forward to seeing some of our readers at what promises to be an inspiring and informative conference!

Milestone Achievement as Our First Firm Associates Named!

Angela Conant and Shannon Riley have been promoted to Associates here at Gunkel Architecture. They represent the future of leadership within the firm, demonstrating their commitment to our collective vision of empowering individuals through community by providing excellent technical service to our clients and nurturing strong relationships. We are excited to have them join our firm leadership as we celebrate our first 10 years as a firm, and look forward to the next 10!