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Green Meadows Recreation Center Gymnasium
Los Angeles, California
Photography:
Benny Chan, Fotoworks
2006 CMACN Awards Edition, “CMU Profiles in Architecture”
Sustainable Jury Comments: This building uses sustainable materials including sustainably harvested wood, fly-ash concrete and masonry, locally manufactured materials, and recycled steel. Daylighting and attention to indoor air quality contribute to a better indoor environment.
The Green Meadows Recreation Center Gymnasium, located in a
south Los Angeles neighborhood park, utilizes concrete
masonry as its defining material, producing its distinctive
structure and appearance in a building that also meets the
functional, sustainability and maintenance requirements of
the client, the Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Department.
The project’s tight budget required the need for
resourcefulness on the part of the design team, to take
advantage of every design opportunity that the selection of
materials, notably the concrete masonry block, provided. The
building provides a full court gymnasium with bleacher
seating, bathrooms, storage, kitchen, classroom and office
space.
Entry is through a new tree-shaded courtyard. The building’s enclosing folded masonry wall dampens interior sound reverberation and strengthens the 8-inch block wall sufficiently to avoid adding the usual structural piers. There is a cost saving and the added value of unexpected form. The pattern produced by the concrete block also anticipates the neighborhood graffiti problem, accommodating the standardized rectangular paint-over fixes and resulting, over time, in a pattern of painted rectangles that will blend with the original block pattern. The building’s skylight-punctured shed roof utilizes a long-spanning deck and also contributes to the structural efficiency of the building and maximizes natural light, with the row of north-facing clerestory windows. The gym is passively cooled with operable louvers and is designed for LEED-certified equivalence.
Architect:
Koning
Eizenberg Architecture
1454 25th Street, 2nd Floor
Santa Monica, CA 90404
Hank
Koning, FAIA
Principal
Julie
Eizenberg, AIA
Principal
Structural
Engineer:
Miyamoto International
General
Contractor:
Tobo Construction
Masonry
Contractor:
CR Construction
Block
Producer:
Angelus Block Company, Inc.
Owner:
City of Los Angeles, Recreation and Parks
Department
