In fact, every destination in the 26,700-square-foot child development center, including classrooms, restrooms, play areas, offices and the infirmary, is modeled after a familiar building, such as a fire station, post office, flower shop or candy store. Hallways bear street names and walls are decorated with murals that depict popular nursery rhymes, including “Jack and Jill,” “Little Miss Muffet” and “The Old Woman who Lived in a Shoe.”

“As we thought about plans for the center, our goal was to create a community, using familiar buildings, Chickasaw street names, soft street lamps and windows with colorful awnings where children could look out from their classroom “homes” into the “streets,” said Lisa John, administrator of the division of education for Chickasaw Nation.

The classrooms where up to 220 children from six weeks to four years of age gather each day feature colors selected according to their age—pastels for the very young and brighter colors for older children.

 “The floors in each room feature the same field color and border,” said Tammy Whitaker, Chickasaw Nation project coordinator. “This consistency ties the building together. But within each classroom, four accent colors unique to that space brighten the floors and are repeated on walls, cabinets and shelving.”

In fact, it was the combined color palettes of noraplan logic and noraplan environcare™—64 colors in all—that first attracted Whitaker to the nora rubber floor covering. The finished center includes 13 colors of nora flooring in 17 classrooms and two large indoor play areas. 

“nora offers patterns that are attractive, but not overwhelming, and a great selection of colors that are vibrant, but not so bright that they are all-consuming,” said Whitaker.