Rainier Beach Community Center

Seattle, WA
Construction Cost: $16.55 million
Area / Square Feet: 48,000
Occupancy Date: September 2013

The Rainier Beach Community Center was built on the site of a former community center and pool of the same name, accommodating programs that attract many in the neighborhood and beyond.

The aquatics center includes three bodies of water. The six-lane lap pool — with 1-meter springboard and competition-level scoreboard — attracts lap swimmers, swim lessons and citywide swim meets. The spa and leisure pool — with water slide, vortex and current channel — are the active, family-oriented features of the center. The community center includes a large gym, a social hall, a commercial teaching kitchen, a computer lab, an arts-and-crafts room, and multi-use meeting/classrooms.

The owner and design team set goals of reducing energy and water use, which helped the building achieve LEED Gold certification. Heat-recovery dehumidification units were used along with radiant slab heating, ground-source heating and cooling, and evacuated tube solar water heating. Activity rooms and the gymnasium are cooled through natural ventilation. Rainwater provides 90 percent of the water for toilets and urinals. Construction materials from the old center were salvaged and reused, including wood beams for siding and concrete foundations for structural fill. The building’s simple forms and natural color palette provide a civic building aesthetic to the community it serves.