The purpose of Oklahoma City’s first Senior Health and Wellness Center is to promote healthy, active lifestyles, social interaction and overall quality of life for residents age 50 years and older. To accomplish these objectives, the project includes a mix of fitness facilities, casual social spaces and multipurpose rooms to support a wide variety of group activities, educational programs and other events.
Since opening, the facility has exceeded membership projections fivefold. The main lobby and lounge serves as a welcome center and social hub and features a small café with ample daylight. One wing of the facility contains the fitness spaces, including a 75-foot hybrid fitness pool, a gymnasium, a fitness center and an aerobics studio, as well as secondary social interaction areas. The other wing contains numerous multipurpose meeting rooms of various sizes, private consultation rooms, a demonstration kitchen and an arts-and-crafts studio. Care was taken to place windows in locations that would provide daylight, while limiting glare and heat gain.
The design includes generous corridors and clearances, additional and oversized restrooms, higher lighting levels, acoustic enhancements, extra seating opportunities, privacy features and enhanced accessibility measures. Similar accommodations have been made outside the building, as well, including higher lighting levels in the parking lot, a curbless parking lot design, handicap parking spaces beyond the number required by code, a covered porte cochere and limited travel distance to the main entrance.
The Ensworth School Tennis Center
