East Oakland Sports Center

Photo © David Wakely

Oakland, California

ELS Architecture and Urban Design

A city-commissioned, 25,000-square-foot community sports center aiming for LEED Silver (top) takes its stylistic cues from a nearby shipping company's unadorned HQ. Sustainable materials and features (solar-thermal panels, rainwater-collecting bioswales, a solar-heat-gain-reducing brise soleil) prove green can be fun while providing a haven for kids and the elderly.

ARCHITECT: ELS Architecture and Urban Design

BUDGET: $20 million

CONTEXT: In a neighborhood notorious for drug- and gang-related activity, the building allows respite and recreation on a site once proposed for a sports center for San Francisco's unsuccessful 2012 Olympics bid.

People

Client: City of Oakland

Architect: ELS Architecture and Urban Design

Engineers: Telamon Engineering (civil); SOHA Engineers, (structural); F.W. Associates (electrical); H&M Group (mechanical)

Consultants: Aquatics Consultants (aquatic); Keller Mitchell & Company (landscape); Rick Unvarsky Consulting Services (LEED)

Contractor: Turner Construction

Products

Siding: Centria

Glass: PPG

Cement masonry: Trenwyth Industries

Curtain wall and storefront: Kawneer

Sports flooring: Connor Sports Flooring, Mondo U.S.A.

Wood ceilings: Rulon International

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Joann Gonchar, FAIA, LEED AP, is deputy editor at Architectural Record. She joined RECORD in 2006, after working for eight years at its sister publication, Engineering News-Record. Before starting her career as a journalist, Joann worked for several architecture firms and spent three years in Kobe, Japan, with the firm Team Zoo, Atelier Iruka. She earned a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University. She is licensed to practice architecture in New York State.