By their very nature, community centers strive to be welcoming in both design and function. One signature feature of The Well, opened last September in Hilliard, Ohio, seeks to make the 111,000-square-foot recreation and wellness facility feel particularly homey for the greater Columbus area’s growing Muslim population. Inspired by Middle Eastern moucharabieh (maash-rah-BEE-yuh) architectural latticework and initially designed to grace only the entry of The Well’s meditation room, a custom wood screen system was instead incorporated throughout the floorplan to define wayfinding, provide a balance of privacy and transparency between spaces, complement flooring colors and patterns, and play with natural light entering the building. A computerized carving process created a single pattern in individual wood panels measuring 12 feet high, 40 inches wide and 1.5 inches thick. Panels were then flipped and rotated when combined within a metal framing system to create varying patterns demarking The Well’s diverse destinations — from fitness areas to informal social nooks. Smaller screens measuring 4 feet high adorn an event hall’s windows. In total, 76 individual pieces of carved wood are incorporated in the purposefully inclusive interior design. “We researched the concept, understood the symbolism of it and kind of reinterpreted that symbolism to how it might apply to our building’s specific needs,” says Barker Rinker Seacat design architect Jesse Walters. “If somebody sees it and doesn’t know what it is, maybe they apply their own thinking to it or they’re inspired by it in some way. It’s definitely a unique human scale design feature for a rec center.”
