This 123,000-square-foot community center represents part of the program initiated by a $1.6 billion gift to The Salvation Army from the late Joan Kroc, wife of McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc. The Kroc Center presents a unique opportunity to successfully combine multiple community functions — church, education center, performing arts facility, recreation and aquatics center — in one all-encompassing complex, resulting in considerable operational savings and increased usage.
Located on a 12-acre site, the Coeur d’Alene Kroc Center is designed to make residents of the region feel welcome. Local materials were incorporated, including stone, CMU, wood, laminated timber, tinted and insulated glass, and corrugated metal siding. These materials all suggest a contemporary, industrial character that responds to the informal personality of the region.
The 14,000-square-foot multipurpose activity court is large enough for the simultaneous playing of team sports (basketball, volleyball, soccer and floor hockey) with room for 240 spectators. Other amenities include a 25-yard-by-25-meter, 10-lane competition pool; an indoor leisure pool with waterslide, lazy river and zero-depth entry; a group fitness studio; a jogging/walking track; a climbing wall; a 5,350-square-foot fitness center; a childcare facility; and indoor and outdoor playgrounds. The center also includes a 400-seat worship theater that doubles as a performing arts theater, and community rooms for corporate events, meetings, birthday parties and other social activities. A commercial kitchen and catering department provides food for these events.
Judge's Comments
The details and materials have a local flavor, and the landscaping and common spaces pull the rich diversity of interior spaces together in a way that makes it all work. This feels like a community center should.
— Chris Sgarzi
A well-articulated and sensitive building planning approach that collects all the program components along a multistory central spine.
— Colleen McKenna
The mission of this building is enhanced by the execution of a well-designed plan. So many community elements have been carefully connected in a meaningful and organized fashion.
— Bill McCullough
