Judith Creed Horizons for Achieving Independence (JCHAI), a not-for-profit organization empowering adults with developmental disabilities and autism to reach their fullest potential and live and work independently, is located on the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia’s bucolic Bryn Mawr campus, where it is surrounded by a nurturing educational environment, including private PK-12 and post-secondary institutions, and nearby the town’s commercial and residential core with work, living, and transit opportunities.

The John and Jacqueline E. Swartz Education Center suggests a threshold to transformation. Its architectural expression is about embarking on a journey, crossing a bridge to a new possibility, through a tactile portal into a descending widening pathway whose signposts include the warmth of hearth and the beauty of uncorrupted nature beyond.

Two levels, containing 8,550 square feet, are connected by a mid-level entry in a split-level arrangement taking advantage of the hillside site. It is approached via the campus driveway and parking on the uphill side. From this mid-level entry, a half-flight of stairs graciously descends to the primary program spaces below. The upper half-level ascends to administrative functions. A three-stop elevator adjacent to the entry provides an accessible connection to all levels.

The lower level contains modern program spaces including high-tech classrooms with state-of-the-art AV equipment, Smartboards, and moveable walls for flexible programming. A fully equipped residential kitchen arranged for interactive cooking lessons, a social gathering space with gas fireplace and the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Training Coffee Shop complete this level. The coffee shop is used for vocational training of program participants and is open to the entire campus population as a visible, meaningful symbol of the capabilities of people with disabilities. A 1,000 square foot terrace, adjacent to the coffee shop, affords opportunity for the retail and educational programs to expand outdoors and reinforces the connection to the bucolic arboretum and campus beyond.