Wu Yee Scotia Back Patio

Project Overview

Dorman Associates designed the Scotia Early Learning Center for Wu Yee Children’s Services, in the former Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church in San Francisco’s Silver Terrace neighborhood. The center serves children from infancy to age five and opened in 2023. In 2026 the studio returned for the firm’s annual office volunteer project: the back patio, which was ready for a refresh.

The patio sits between the building and a concrete retaining wall and is reached through the preschool classroom. The goal was casual seating and an inviting place where teachers can meet, without staring at a mechanical unit or an imposing concrete wall. The center’s team asked for seating, greenery, and wood and other natural materials.

The design was developed between March and June. It had to be buildable by the studio itself, prefabricated where possible, and installed in short sessions timed around the children’s day. A bench and three cedar planter boxes were built in the Dorman Associates office in August and installed on site the same week. The retaining wall, porous and stained with moss, was pressure-washed and primed, and Jenny Land and Melanie Victor added their artistic talents to paint a mural across it, from an image the center’s team picked. In September a slatted wood screen went up around the mechanical unit and the planters were planted. The patio was ready for the center at the start of October.

For a studio that usually hands its drawings to a builder, it was a chance to see what it’s really like to build its own designs.

Project team: Irikaa Pilania (project lead), Ava Farab, Chris Dorman, Jenny Land, Melanie Victor, Olumide Omobulejo, Aki Laflin, Einar Guntvedt, Sage Taylor, Alicia Cavero and Nathan Schwartzman. Early design: Bruno Elias and Kyra Simon.