It is remarkable because it brings together the renowned Reggio Emilia childcare model with a building that promises to raise the bar to a new level of environmental stewardship.

The UniverCity Childcare project will be housed in Canada’s most sustainable building and the first in Canada to meet the “Living Building Challenge”. In order to meet challenge the building will:

• generate more energy annually than it uses
• recycle or harvest from rainwater more water than it uses
• be free of toxic materials
  
• obtain the majority of its materials from within a 400 kilometre radius, and
• cost less to construct than a conventional childcare facility
  

The Reggio Emilia model emphasizes three “teachers”: the educator, the environment, and the broader community in which the children live. The childcare facility itself becomes a laboratory for self-directed learning. The UniverCity Childcare facility will provide unique opportunities both indoors and out for the children to explore water, light, air, gravity, vegetation, and seasonal change.

Construction of the building began early August 2010 and will be complete by summer 2011. For more information about the childcare centre and the Living Building Challenge, please visit: www.univercitychildcare.ca