A softer place to land: UK interiors students envision new possibilities for The Nest’s childcare space

For a child seeking safety and stability during a difficult time, the right room can do more than provide care. It can offer calm, comfort and a softer place to land. That idea guided students in the University of Kentucky College of Design’s School of Interiors as they partnered with The Nest to imagine trauma-informed changes for its childcare space. 

The Nest is a Lexington-based nonprofit that supports women, children and families facing crisis. Through counseling, education, legal advocacy, childcare and essential resources, the organization works to prevent abuse and neglect and help families build safer, more stable futures. For families navigating crisis, the spaces where care happens can shape how safe, supported and welcome they feel. 

That connection between care and space became the starting point for assistant interiors professor Aanya Chugh’s Spring 2026 studio. Chugh said most childcare design standards prioritize safety and function but often overlook emotional well-being.  

“That gap can leave spaces feeling overstimulating or unsupportive for young children,” Chugh said.  

Through site visits, interviews and observations at The Nest, students studied how children, families and staff experience the space every day. In hopes of filling that gap, each student distilled the findings into childhood-focused, trauma-informed design principles and used them to shape proposed changes for The Nest’s childcare space. 

Interiors student Jillian Mandel centered her guidelines on seven principles: empowerment and personal control, peer and staff support, emotional and physical safety, connection and belonging, reduced angles and soft spatial design, and sensory considerations and adaptability. 

“These guidelines not only support children who have experienced trauma but also enhances the overall well-being and development of all children by fostering a sense of trust, comfort and consistency,” Mandel wrote in her guidelines.  

Mandel translated those principles into a design that responded directly to teacher feedback about the center’s open layout, which offered little separation between classrooms and few quiet spaces for children who needed to step away. Her proposal introduced flexible wall systems to create defined spaces while maintaining clear sight lines for supervision, organized activity zones to help children navigate the space with confidence and varied seating options that give children a sense of choice. 

“I wanted to create spaces where kids can feel like they have their control back,” Mandel said. “Trauma takes that away.”  

She also used curved forms, soft materials, calming corners in every classroom, warmer, residential-style finishes to make the environment feel more like home and gradual transitions between active and quiet areas to reduce overstimulation and support emotional regulation for children and staff. 

“I just really wanted a space where all feel welcome and comfortable,” Mandel said.  

Students concluded the semester with a gallery-style presentation for The Nest’s executives and staff, where they shared their individual design proposals and proposed guidelines. 

“Attending the final presentation was such a meaningful experience for our team,” said Jenny Norman, assistant executive director and director of childcare at The Nest. “What stood out most was how thoughtfully the students approached trauma-informed design, not just focusing on the physical space, but really considering the emotional experience of the children, families and staff we serve.” 

For Chugh, the studio reflects what design education should be: grounded in real people, real places and real needs. 

“Through this process, students learn that design is more than aesthetics,” Chugh said. “They’re doing qualitative research, co-designing with a community and learning how to tell stories through space. That’s how you start to understand what it really means to create an environment that's not just functional, but truly restorative.” 

The students were not the only ones who left the partnership with valuable lessons though. Norman said the students’ work helped spark new possibilities for the early childhood spaces included in the upcoming renovation of The Morton House, the historic building that houses The Nest Family Center. 

“We left feeling inspired, with a clearer vision of what’s possible for our space, and excited about how these ideas can support future planning and funding for our center and the families we serve,” Norman said. 

Chugh closed the studio with a hopeful note on the impact this kind of work makes.

“Not every idea has to become a full renovation to matter,” Chugh said. “If even one of these proposals leads to a quieter corner, a softer transition or a small change that helps a child feel safer while a family moves through a difficult season, this work has done something meaningful.”  

That is the power of design. It can meet people in ordinary moments, change how a space feels and help create the kind of care families can carry with them beyond the walls of The Nest. 

This story originally ran in UKNow here.