Fun Facts about Anchor Center for Blind Children's Julie McAndrews Mork Building
| Building Square Footage: |
15,600 |
| Land: |
2 acres |
| Cost: |
$7 million
(Plus a $1 million building maintenance endowment for a total $8 million) |
| How it was funded: |
Through donations from corporations, foundations and individuals. No government funds were used to construct the building. |
The building was designed to be a teaching tool itself for very young blind children. It has special acoustics, light and textures to help the children's learning.
Inside
- There are several "way-finding" tools to direct the children to the classrooms: wood and tile floors, Trail Rail, Light Walk and skylights. Classrooms are situated around three pods: blue, yellow and red. (Look at the skylights.)
- The emphasis on light reaches its peak with the Kaleidoscope Discovery Wall in the Motor Room. Here children who can see some light are drawn to the colored windows for exploring. Children who are totally blind are drawn to the temperatures and textures in the windows.
- Each classroom has one wall at a slight angle to minimize noise and give children directional sound cues.
- Benjamin's Niche, a classroom for children with a dual sensory loss of vision and hearing, is the only classroom with a wood floor. The wood floor resonates, allowing the children to "feel" the sound, helping them focus on learning.
- Pediatric ophthalmologists donate eye exams to children in our programs in a special eye exam room. This is the first facility of its kind where medical and educational components will be so closely linked from the initial visual diagnosis.
Outside
- All the trees, shrubs, perennials, bulbs and ornamental grasses in the nature playground were selected for their sensory qualities.
- The Braille Trail has the entire Braille alphabet and numbers in a circular path for walking and riding a tricycle.
- Cane Walk Lane has different paving textures and a curb for children learning cane skills.