Project Profile: Fulmer Family Centre for Childhood Studies

Fulmer Family Centre for Childhood Studies: Design With Purpose for More Than Service

Written by Cole Kapler | Photography by Millissa Martin

Read the full story below.

At Capilano University in North Vancouver, British Columbia, the Fulmer Family Centre for Childhood Studies was designed with a clear intention: to move beyond seeing childcare as a service and create an environment grounded in relationships. Sara Sutherland, director of the children’s centre, and her team envisioned a space where collective life could flourish, challenging the traditional, rigid structures of early childhood education.

The result is a fluid, light-filled centre where children are trusted as capable citizens, and the very architecture communicates a deep sense of community.

What makes the space inspiring isn’t the physical environment. It is the fact that my team lives in the space with the children. We aren’t technicians providing a service; we are professional early childhood educators working together to create rich early learning experiences for children in ways that challenge people’s oversimplified ideas about early years care and education.
—Sara Sutherland, director, children’s centres, Capilano University

We invite you to enjoy the full story of the Fulmer Family Centre for Childhood Studies below the photo gallery. At the end, you’ll also find some inspiring words from Sara.

A Place of Innovation, Imagination, and Experimentation

The inspiration for the centre was a departure from conventional childcare models. Sara Sutherland, an ECCE graduate from CapU herself, was driven by a vision of “childcare that is accessible, of high quality, and where educators feel valued.” This required intentional design—crafting a space that would actively support this philosophy.

A key influence emerged from the team’s ongoing dialogue with the schools of Reggio, a centre of progressive pedagogical approach in Reggio Emilia, Italy. A trip to Reggio and the experience of the piazza (a central, communal square), sparked the central philosophy for the centre’s design.

“That was the inspiration behind this building,” she shares, “the idea that the children lived in spaces… they weren’t placed in spaces.” Our goal was to design a centre that actively nurtures relationships and a collective life, where children and educators are building culture together, not just fitting into a pre-determined routine.

What has to happen in your environment if you accept that children are active participants? —Sara Sutherland

Design With Intention

The centre’s pedagogy is made tangible in its architecture. The team fought hard for its signature feature: transparent walls between classrooms and views out onto the central strata space. This transparency was non-negotiable for the education team and is representative of their commitment to collective life.

The building says, ‘we live here and collective life and relationships matter’. We don’t simply say it. The building speaks it. —Sara Sutherland

This design allows for constant visibility and connection. A child in the farthest three-to-five learning environment can see the infants at the other end of the building, reinforcing a palpable sense of community. The design also prioritizes access to natural light and seeks to blur the line between inside and outside.

Crucially, the space is designed for flexibility. “Nothing is set in this space,” Sara notes. The furniture is intentionally fluid, allowing educators and children to rearrange the environment to suit their project-based work.

What Changed in the Space

To support a philosophy of collective life, the team chose furniture to physically bring people together. Natural Pod’s Reach™ Tables—with their wave-like edges that nestle together—allows educators to combine surfaces into long gathering tables. This flexibility means that it’s easy to bring both educator and learner together for lunch, turning mealtimes into community events.

Sara also highlights their deliberate choice to replace individual chairs with long wooden Share™ Benches. Children now have agency over who they sit with and are used to sitting quite close together. Educators sit with them on the benches or on low Unity™ Stools, reinforcing a collective relationship.

Having children and educators share meals together on Natural Pod benches deeply impacts the depth of the relationships we form from infancy right through to five years old. —Sara Sutherland

Challenges We Worked Through

This transformation was not without friction. There was also the challenge of expertise. “It’s an overwhelming thing to plan something like this,” Sara admits, noting that most ECCE managers do not have design or build backgrounds. It required a partner to work with her every step of the way.

With a company like Natural Pod that’s people forward, it felt like I always had someone I could talk it through with. —Sara Sutherland

Why Natural Pod

The decision to partner with Natural Pod was driven by a need for consistency between the curriculum and the physical environment. Sara and her team advocated strongly that, as a lab school that hosts practicum students, the elements that filled the rooms must align with the Early Childhood Care and Education curriculum which focuses on social justice, sustainability, and climate change.

The furniture allows the centre to live its values authentically, ensuring that students aren’t learning one thing conceptually while seeing something entirely different in practice.

Beyond the materials, the partnership solved a commonly missed opportunity of design. The furniture—specifically the Share™ Benches and Reach™ Tables—was selected because it inherently facilitates gatherings and collective spaces. It allows the centre to move beyond being a service and become a place where collective life is physically practiced every day.

Children come to the table very differently at a bench than they do with a chair. In order to support collective life you need to step away from making decisions that are very individualistic. —Sara Sutherland

What’s Next

The team, in collaboration with the university’s on-site pedagogist and atelierista, is dedicated to constantly questioning their practice.

The ultimate goal reaches beyond the centre’s walls, supporting the development of a love of learning, and creating citizens who understand, from infancy, that “I’m better with you.” By trusting children as capable collaborators, the centre is exploring how to build culture and nurture the kind of creative, critical thinkers who will affect change.

Some Last Words From Sara

If you are an educator trying to recreate what makes this space special in your own space, begin with a thoughtful dialogue within your team. The key question is not just ‘Why do we do what we do?’ but ‘Is what we are doing still creating meaning?’

If the only answer is ‘we’ve always done it this way’, that’s not a roadblock: it’s an opportunity to inspire thoughtful dialogue. This necessary, often unseen work is the vital first step towards transformative change. By moving our focus from rigid routines to adaptive rhythms and flows, we allow our children and ourselves to truly flourish.

For those feeling unsure how to start, simply pause and consider this: How can you make the space around you feel more intentionally designed for joy and learning.

Get your copy of our Ideabook.