Horizons Design provides a full range of architectural services in the design of environments for children. One of the leading design groups in the field, Horizons Design has been involved in the creation of more than 100 unique children's environments in the U. S., Canada, Europe, and Japan. Our extensive experience with the complex design, regulatory, and construction processes inherent in crating children's environments help ensure a cost-effective result conducive to the highest-quality child development experience.
Mission Statement
In every culture, childhood is a special time. It is, perhaps, the most powerful period of our lives; our experiences form the core of our being and our sense of ourselves in relation to the world of nature, of people, of things. It is a time for powerful experiences that forever fuel the scientist, the poet, the artist, and the imagination within us. At horizons Design, it is our goal to create places that celebrate, support, and enhance the magical beauty of childhood.
Cutting Edge of Design
At Horizons Design we receive feedback from the more than 600 programs under Bright Horizons' management. Our continually evolving design criteria and standards reflect the "best practices" in the field. Along with our collaboration with clients and child development expert, we also conduct Harvard University's annual Institute for Child Care Design and continue to expand our international practice and research.
Design Approach
At Horizons Design, we create developmentally appropriate spaces and building elements for each age group an activity. We enhance program quality by working with educators toward a shared philosophy regarding early childhood environments, and we maintain a strong working knowledge of codes, regulations, and standards. Our strong partnerships with clients enable us to develop environments that meet their needs and incorporate unique elements of their organization's cultures. We implement innovative pedagogical approaches supported by children's environments that provide spatial variety and rich sensory experience.
Growth Team Support
- Horizons Design provides sales support by helping clients understand regulatory and cost issues, by helping them to communicate effectively with internal and external team members in the construction and design fields.
- We can help clients get past specific hurdles such as site selection, project feasibility, internal review and approval.
- We can help clients develop a concrete vision for their center generating excitement and momentum around the project.
- We can work with existing clients to address expansion or reconfiguration needs.
- We can help evaluate potential acquisition or assumption of management opportunities.
Design Approach
At Horizons Design, we create developmentally appropriate spaces and building elements for each age group an activity. We enhance program quality by working with educators toward a shared philosophy regarding early childhood environments, and we maintain a strong working knowledge of codes, regulations, and standards. Our strong partnerships with clients enable us to develop environments that meet their needs and incorporate unique elements of their organization's cultures. We implement innovative pedagogical approaches supported by children's environments that provide spatial variety and rich sensory experience.
Cutting Edge of Design
At Horizons Design we receive feedback from the more than 600 programs under Bright Horizons' management. Our continually evolving design criteria and standards reflect the "best practices" in the field. Along with our collaboration with clients and child development expert, we also conduct Harvard University's annual Institute for Child Care Design and continue to expand our international practice and research.
Director of Horizons Design:
Mike Lindstrom
mlindstrom@brighthorizons.com
As the head of Horizons Design, Bright Horizons Family Solutions' in-house architecture department, Mike Lindstrom provides a full range of architectural services in the design of environments for children. One of the leading architects in the field, Mike, has held a lead role at the annual Child Care Design Institute at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design for the last 5 years and has served as an advisor to the American Academy of Pediatrics on Child Care Center Design. In his more than fifteen years of designing buildings for Bright Horizons Family Solutions, Mike's extensive experience with the complex design, regulatory, and construction processes inherent in creating children's environments, has assured a cost effective product conducive to the highest quality child development experience.
Mr. Lindstrom has practiced architecture since 1982 in Paris, New York and Boston. In addition to his teaching at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, he has served as an Instructor for the Boston Architectural Center and as an Assistant for the Parsons School of Design - Paris Program. Mr. Lindstrom received a Master of Architecture degree from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and a B.S. in Architectural Studies from the University of Illinois.
Our Team
| Project Managers / Project Architects: |
|
| Steve Geller | sgeller@brighthorizons.com |
| Bill Mensinger | bmensinger@brighthorizons.com |
| Keith Miller |
kmiller@brighthorizons.com |
| Designers / Architectural Interns: |
|
| James Howe | jhowe@brighthorizons.com |
| Wen-Hung Chen | wchen@brighthorizons.com |
| Elvin Zayas-Laí | ezayas@brighthorizons.com |
Client Support
Horizons Design provides architectural design services in the U.S. and abroad. We are licensed in multiple states and work in other jurisdictions through strategic partnerships with highly qualified and experienced local Architecture and Engineering firms.
Our aim is to help our clients design and build the best children's environments in the world and to make the most of each project's specific potential. We strive to achieve this on time and on budget.
We tailor our involvement in any project to suit the needs of a particular client. While we have the capacity to provide complete design services (as well as design-build services in collaboration with the Bright Horizons construction group) we often concentrate on early stage design input, through design development, and follow up with peer review of the construction documents produced by a local "Architect of record".
Whatever structure or form our project participation takes, our years of experience in designing children's environments helps our clients, at every step of the process, to maximize value, control risk, and achieve their project's goals.
Partial Client List
|
Abbott Laboratories Arizona State University Research Park Bayer Pharmaceuticals Blue Cross and Blue Shield Cisco Systems Cornell University Duke University EMC Corporation Genentech Inc. GlaxoSmithKline Horizons for Homeless Children HSBC |
Huntington Bank IBM JFK Medical Center JM Family Enterprises Land Rover Merck & Co. Merrill Lynch Microsoft Motorola National City Bank Pfizer PNC Bank Procter & Gamble |
Rutgers University SAS Institute Staples SUNY Cortland SUNY Rockland Timberland Time Warner Trinity College Toyaku Corporation, Tokyo United Way of Miami-Dade UAW and Ford Motor Company Yale University |
Contact Us
Carole Meehan
Executive Projects Assistant
cmeehan@brighthorizons.com
Horizons Design
400 Talcott Avenue South
Watertown, MA 02472
p 617-673-8138
f 617-673-8608
