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PROJECT OVERVIEW
The Lester Buresh Family Community Wellness center serves both as a formal and informal gathering space for community groups and residents as well as a multi-purpose wellness facility.
The building is located at a busy intersection and is adjacent to the local high school, so it was critical that the design be welcoming and encouraging for patrons. The design takes advantage of the site to create a spacious entry plaza and pushes the building into the raised topography at the gymnasium corner to create an intimate sunken courtyard. These exterior spaces compliment the multi-purpose and flexible nature of the interior spaces, while maintaining flexibility for a future pool expansion at the opposite end of the building.
The simple, axial layout was conceived of as two bars slightly offset from each other. One bar groups program functions that require solid walls and organizes them along a linear connection spine that runs the full length of the building to physically and visually connect all spaces at both levels. The other bar houses the gym where symmetrical acoustic walls create two of the defining elements of the building – the clean geometry of the stair, which serves as circulation to the activities on the second floor, and the rock wall. Both sit below skylights that help accentuate them as dictation points and draw the eye up in the two-volume space. |