The Cantalician Center for Learning, Inc. is an educational, rehabilitative and occupational facility caring for people from infancy through adulthood who are challenged by a variety of developmental and physical disabilities. The program had been housed on two separate campuses, in older buildings that could not accommodate the programmatic or the accessibility requirements that the population of the schools demands.
The design challenge was to consolidate four distinct and specialized program elements; pre-school learning, school-age learning, day care center, and executive administration into a single building that functions like a special needs institution, while embodying the charm and character of a friendly neighborhood schoolhouse.
To fulfill that challenge, Trautman Associates designed significant renovations to a recently abandoned school building, renovations to a former church next door, and a new two-story addition linking the two buildings and creating a private secure outdoor courtyard. The close-knit owner/architect relationship resulted in a spectacular design that will serve this special program for years to come.
