Located between the downtown business district and a residential area, the new community center for Overland Park was designed to take advantage of the 5.6-acre sloping site by placing the large volumes of the gymnasium and natatorium into the slope.
A single-story facade welcomes visitors and connects to the scale of existing downtown buildings. Meanwhile, the curving, two-story east facade presents itself as the eye-catching “billboard” face of the community center to heavy traffic zooming past on an adjacent roadway.
Asserting itself as a modern building among its surroundings, the Matt Ross Community Center uses 20 different percentage blends of color to produce a seamless shade gradient across the east and west facades, fading the color of the building from 100 percent red at the north end to 100 percent buff at the south end. The larger volumes of space protruding from the structure also are red to add further interest to the sprawling building.
The facility consists of three spaces: recreation, community/ civic and administrative/support. The recreation area includes a two-court gymnasium, a natatorium with a leisure and lap pool, cardio fitness and strength training areas, a group exercise studio, an elevated track, locker rooms and family changing rooms.
