Turner One is the second building on campus and houses the Daycare and Fitness facilities as well as four floors of offices. Since Dollar General has no "second class employees," the building and site are developed to the same high standards as the first headquarters building - Integrity Place. That decision meant a covered entrance canopy and five floors of parking structure under the building, which left only one side of the building relating at grade to the main daycare level. It also meant that the site impact was minimized and existing trees were saved within 10 feet of the building and next to the garage entrance road (even at the expense of 12-15 feet high retaining walls).

The design of the building and its site were driven from the very beginning by the needs of a first-class daycare. The building's first floor elevation is set to allow an appropriate amount of relief in the play gardens while maintaining a 5 percent grade on the bikeways throughout. The entrance is located on one corner because the daycare classrooms need to relate directly to grade and each to their own age-specific play garden. A colonnade element is indented into the building façade to provide a porch for inclement weather and for infant care. Security for the children from the internal and external environment is, of course, a primary consideration. Learning, with its opportunities and challenges, always takes precedence over mere care. Though on a triangular site, contiguous to a rectangular building, the dramatic daycare theme quickly evolved into curves - both inside and out - with a strong water/marine character. The fences between the age-specific play gardens curve as well as the walks within the gardens, rising in switchbacks and sweeping arcs. The play equipment participates in and enhances the curvilinear theme. Square modules incorporate circular roof and window motifs.

There is a certain frustration level in fitting safety zones required by a rectangular piece of equipment into a free-formed curving safety surface area. There is a certain challenge to cutting bricks to fit into an area whose outline has no straight lines. A certain creativity is required to construct a "bridge" whose every deck member is radial, because it is on a curving walk. The suppliers, contractors and workers rose to the challenge because they understood that both the project and each child are special, extraordinary and unique.

The development of relationships is the key theme in the play area between children; between children and teachers; between parents, programs and administration. Spacially, there are "over, under, around and through" relationships. In variety and sequence, the design attempts to maximize the children's experiences and opportunities for learning. The designers, the operators and the building contractor's representatives met regularly throughout the conceptualization, documentation and construction to insure the norm was only a point of beginning and that the wildest dreams were actually constructible.

The Dollar General Family Center playgardens are exceptional. They provide unusual child development opportunities. They support an extremely good program. They are loved by the children, their parents, the teachers, the client and the design team!