The Salvation Army Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center (Quincy, IL)

Quincy, Ill.
Construction Cost: $26 million
Area / Square Feet: 96,840
Occupancy Date: September 2011

The Salvation Army Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center offers nearly 100,000 square feet of indoor programming on a three-acre site using a multistory design. The center includes spaces for worship and performing arts education, family life and personal development, and fitness, recreation and aquatic opportunities.

The overall interior finish concept emulates the prominent Mississippi River along the city's western edge. The flow of water, both literal and figurative, ties the building together as a design thread and leads guests through the building to the various activities, terminating at a water feature flowing into the dynamic two-story aquatics center.

Each space, grounded by neutral paints, woods and occasional stone, is punctuated by the colors found in nature throughout the four seasons. Rusts, reds and oranges of autumn highlight the worship space; soothing blues of winter flow through the aquatics area; and pops of magenta and yellows with mossy greens energize the childcare and fitness areas.

The Kroc Center was designed to become a beacon of hope and an agent of change in the Quincy region. Indigenous materials of limestone, three tones of brick, split-faced CMU, and tinted and insulated glass in aluminum frames combine to create a contemporary, yet distinctly Midwest expression and welcome visitors.