Highland Park Recreation Center Addition
Highland Park, IL
Year in Showcase: 2006
Project Description
The Highland Park Recreation Center is distinguished by horizontal linear articulation. The facility’s apt scale and materials underscore a design vision that seeks to visually connect the building with the existing country club to which it is attached, and to the natural environment in which it resides.
Brick and Lannon stone echo the composition of the original building, and continuous ribbon windows accentuate the addition’s linearity, while permitting natural light to illuminate interior spaces.
The program design allows key spaces within — including a lap pool, a dance/aerobics area, fitness facilities, a gymnasium, a running track, a café and locker rooms — to be functionally arranged, readily visible and conveniently accessible. Double-loaded corridors contribute to establishing a visual connection between program spaces, emphasize plan efficiency and support centralized control.
Practical in plan and expression, the facility is not without inventive features. Dubbed an “energy wall,” an elevation in a secondary program room that lacks an exterior light source features a poly-resin sheeting application fitted with a fiber-optic light system, creating a virtual window through which natural light from an adjacent space is filtered.
Project Details
Architect of Record: Williams Architects Ltd.; Carol Stream, Ill.
Aquatic Design Engineer: Innovative Aquatic Design LLC;
Schaumburg, Ill.
Construction Cost: $11.4 million
Square Feet: 64,750
Occupancy: September 2005
Vendors
Aerobics Flooring:
Action Floor Systems LLC
Basketball Backboards/Supports: Porter Athletic Equipment
Divider Curtains: Porter Athletic Equipment
Floor Finishes:
Action Floor Systems LLC
Free Weight Equipment:
Mondo USA
Gymnastics Equipment: Porter Athletic Equipment
Lockers: Hollman Inc.
Pool Chemical Control Systems: Siemens
Pool Dehumidifiers: Dectron Inc.
Pool Water Play Features: Scs Interactive
Rowers:
Life Fitness
Shower/Toilet Partitions: Santana Products Inc.
Stair Climbers:
Life Fitness
Stationary Bikes:
Life Fitness
Strength Equipment:
Life Fitness
Swimsuit Dryer: Extractor Corp.
Treadmills:
Life Fitness
Volleyball Nets and Standards: Porter Athletic Equipment
Wall Padding: Porter Athletic Equipment
