Boys & Girls Club Enjoys Mini Fenway

Opening Day can't come too soon for most New England sports fans, but the kids at the Boys & Girls Club of Worcester, Mass., get to enjoy their own little piece of Fenway Park throughout the year. Designed by Boston-based Bargmann Hendrie + Archetype Inc., and partially funded by a large Yawkey Foundation donation, the building features Fenway echoes on the exterior (that corner of the building is wrapped in green metal panels and brick) that give way inside to this whimsical, kid-friendly version of the Green Monster scoreboard complete with whiteboard squares where kids playing Wiffleball can tally runs with a dry-erase marker. The scoreboard projects slightly into the room to accommodate a baseboard radiator; heat comes out the vents at the bottom and convection is created through the use of diffusers located a home-run poke's distance up the wall. One bit of heresy for Fenway traditionalists: That's short-pile nylon synthetic turf on the floor.

youth sports        gymnasiums