2012 Facility of Merit Winner: East Oakland Sports Center

Boasting one of the few recreational natatoriums in the country for underserved populations, the East Oakland Sports Center was lauded by the judges both for its design and for what it means to the community it serves. The project has a long history: The architect began working to bring it to fruition in 1999, when the city and then-city council president identified Ira Jinkins Park as the future site of a new community recreation and aquatics center. Although popular, the park, like the neighborhood in which it was located, suffered from blight and crime, and local youths had few opportunities to access recreational facilities.

A preliminary design for a 100,000-square-foot facility was so well regarded that the San Francisco Bay Area Olympic Committee included the proposed recreation center as one of the training sites in its bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics. With public funds tight, the architect worked with the city council to develop other schemes to bring costs down, paring the elements down to those that were most relevant to the community.

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