Working with NYS Office of General Services, Synthesis designed a 9500 square foot, timber frame child care center on the campus of Helen Hayes Hospital, integrating the site and building to accommodate the program for 80 children. Consolidating the classrooms around a single central space allowed us to develop a simple structural design, efficient to construct, yet easy to understand, developing a rhythm and playfulness about the architecture that has been praised as both engaging for staff and children, and appropriate for a child care environment. The high roof over the center volume is supported by branch-like timbers with clerestory windows along its perimeter, allowing daylight to filter through the structure from above.