Parent Infant Center

Parent Infant Center (PIC) is a non-profit, early childcare/after school facility occupying housed in several historic buildings with adjacent open space covering an entire city block in Philadelphia’s University City neighborhood. Because of the center’s expanded operations and increased enrollment, the outdoor activity areas were showing signs of extensive wear and not meeting the programmatic requirements.

Ground Reconsidered collaborated with a group of stakeholders including PIC’s administrators, teachers, students, parents and interested community residents, and offered PIC our design services to create a play experience relevant to our time. The play space we designed connects children with nature through a series of outdoor rooms for group and individual activity including, climbing, messy materials, dirt digging, music and movement, nature art, building and vegetable gardens. This immersive play environment, “Acadia Woods Magic Circle” was completed in 2014 and has been certified as a Nature Explore Classroom by the Arbor Day Foundation.