Cincinnati Recreation Commission Eastside Recreation Center

Project Narrative

Eastside Cincinnati Recreation Center: A Neighborhood Place for Wellness and Community Connection

After many years of searching for a building site in an Eastside neighborhood, an existing tennis court area controlled by the Cincinnati Recreation Commission was selected for the Center. The program was straightforward: 15,000 square feet, including a two-court gym, three flexible community rooms, restrooms, and a small office area connected by a corridor.
The site had many restrictions due to utility easements and building setbacks. The design problem and subsequent strategy focused on a simple question: How do you create a straightforward structure within the site’s requirements, connect the Center to the existing playground and swimming pool, allow for parking, and make the building feel like a unified, connected form? The program called for a simple rectangular box with two distinct program heights: the taller gym volume and the shorter support and community functions. The design strategy was to use the two varied volumes and connect them with a building wrap that integrated the structures into a single, distinctive form. The Center’s site supported principles of visibility, inclusion, and walkability, connecting the building to surrounding pedestrian routes and public green space to better serve the local population. Inside, a multi-use gymnasium is striped for basketball, volleyball, and pickleball, encouraging movement, social play, and year-round active living. Flexible meeting rooms accommodate neighborhood events, classes, and gatherings, supporting the kind of everyday interactions that build resilient, connected communities. Administrative and support spaces are efficiently integrated to sustain operations while maintaining openness and ease of wayfinding.

                                           

Project Details -

Submission Category

Building Architecture- Large Scale (>10,000 sf)

Date of Completion

November, 2024