At the heart of Caltech’s new LEED-Gold certified childcare center lies the arroyo, a dry streambed carved into the site’s sloping contours. It is designed to support and expand the school's educational mission of encouraging children to play, explore, discover, and engage with the world. Through observation and play, they learn about the preciousness of water in California’s arid climate.

Three separate buildings distributed around the play yard contain the classrooms and administrative programs. Infant rooms are located in the quiet southern end of the site, far from the adjacent tennis courts and buffered from parking lots by administrative and service wings. Toddlers meet in the center of campus between the youngest and oldest residents. Pre-schoolers occupy the northern end of campus. Everything about the facilities and landscape is scaled for kids aged 6 months to 6 years.