To build a new sports center in Oakland's Ira Jinkins Park and make fitness and recreation accessible to the low-income Brookfield neighborhood has been the city's dream for more than 20 years. After San Francisco's 2012 Olympics bid failed in 2002 and dashed plans to build an Olympic training center on the site, the city collaborated with ELS Architecture and Urban Design to make the project feasible anyway, refining the program, seeking new funding sources, and breaking the project into two phases to build the core components first.

East Oakland Sports Center, image courtesy ELS Architecture and Urban Design | Photo by David Wakely

The first phase opened in June 2011, a state-of-the-art 25,000-square-foot community sports, recreation, and aquatics center. It includes a natatorium with an indoor leisure pool, a dance and aerobics studio, a fitness center, locker rooms, and a lobby. A learning/media center helps improve student academic success while also providing space for senior gatherings and community meetings. Future phases will add soccer and baseball fields as well as a two-court gymnasium with a suspended running track and a 25 yd x 25 m competition pool to replace the site's existing Brookfield/Ira Jinkins Recreation Center.

East Oakland Sports Center, image courtesy ELS Architecture and Urban Design | Photo by David Wakely

East Oakland Sports Center, image courtesy ELS Architecture and Urban Design | Photo by David Wakely

In contrast to the existing community center, which is relatively windowless and surrounded by trees, the new center is a glass building designed to provide extensive natural light and transparency and to invite people in. On the exterior, the use of flat and corrugated metal panels combined with concrete masonry and glass gives the building a civic presence in the park while blending with the light industrial context of the block. The project is designed to achieve LEED Silver certification, as mandated by the City of Oakland. Green design features include thermal solar panels used to heat the recreation pool water, bioswales for stormwater runoff, high-efficiency mechanical systems, and recycled building materials.

East Oakland Sports Center, image courtesy ELS Architecture and Urban Design | Photo by David Wakely

East Oakland Sports Center, image courtesy ELS Architecture and Urban Design | Photo by David Wakely

The design showcases the programmatic elements with highly transparent massing volumes. Three hues of low-e green glass, playfully placed within curtainwall on the north, east, and south sides of the natatorium, maximize daylighting and views and give a shimmering, watery quality to the mass. During the night, the natatorium glows and serves as a beacon of community pride. The transparency allows for "eyes on the park" to improve security, draw visitors, and enable users entering the lobby to see the variety of activities within the building. As the building's focal point, the lobby has entries on both sides so users can move easily from the facility to Edes Avenue or the sport fields.

East Oakland Sports Center, image courtesy ELS Architecture and Urban Design | Photo by David Wakely

Funding for the center comes from Oakland's Measure DD bonds, Oakland Redevelopment Agency funds, a grant from the State of California, and East Bay Regional Parks Measure WW.

East Oakland Sports Center, image courtesy ELS Architecture and Urban Design | Photo by David Wakely

+ Project credits / data

Architect: ELS Architecture and Urban Design
Project Team: Clarence D. Mamuyac, Jr., AIA, LEED® AP, NCARB
Principal in Charge: Christopher Jung, LEED® AP, Project Designer and Manager
Design and Production Team:
William Gordon, LEED® AP
Sims Key
Gerald Navarro
Rick Wang

Location: Oakland, California
Client: City of Oakland
Date of occupancy: July 1, 2011
Gross square footage: 25,000 Phase I (50,000 sf total when Phase II is completed)
Site area: 11 acre site
Construction: cost $20 M
Contractor: Turner Construction

Consultants:
Telamon Engineering Consultants, Inc., Civil Engineers
SOHA Engineers, Structural Engineers
F.W. Associates Inc., Electrical Engineers
H&M Mechanical Group, Mechanical Engineers
Aquatic Design Group, Aquatics Consultants
Keller Mitchell & Co., Landscape Architects
Michael Heacock Architects, LEED Consultant
Rick Unvarsky Consulting Services, Inc., LEED Commissioning Agent
Timmons Design Group, Shading and Thermal Comfort Analysis
Farber Energy Design, Title 24 Analysis

Key materials (type/brand):
Metal Sidings – Centria
Glass – Oldcastle Glass
Polished Cement Masonry Units – Trenwyth Industries
Curtainwall and Storefront systems – Kawneer North America
Sports Flooring – Connor Sports Flooring, Mondo U.S.A. Wood Ceilings – Rulon International

Software used: Revit, Autocad
Awards/certifications: LEED® Silver
Photographer: David Wakely

+ All images courtesy ELS Architecture and Urban Design | Photo by David Wakely

Palazzetti presents the new creation born out from collaboration with Massimo Iosa Ghini.

The design is the most fascinating creative process: the winning projects often arise unexpectedly, suggested by a quick intuition, by a meeting that enriches the mind of new inspirations.

Image courtesy Iosa Ghini Associati & Gruppo Palazzetti | Photo by Marco Auber

That's how San Leo born: few pencil lines on a sheet, a result of the creative architect Iosa Ghini, Italian architecture and design talent, that Palazzetti has translated into reality.

Image courtesy Iosa Ghini Associati & Gruppo Palazzetti | Photo by Marco Auber

The recognizable and personal style of Massimo Iosa Ghini meets the experience of Palazzetti in an object from the contemporary lines, which decomposes and synthesizes the representative elements of the domestic fireplace.

The flame floats suspended above a base shaped in a fluid form, inspired by the sweetness of a wave. The warm hues of precious marble Emperador represent the background of the composition, making it harmonious and balanced.

Image courtesy Iosa Ghini Associati & Gruppo Palazzetti | Photo by Marco Auber

An object from the unmistakable sign, that attracts the attention, redesigning the surrounding space. A new spell signed Palazzetti.