Architect : LPA Inc.
Aquatic Design : Aquatic Design Group
Total Construction Cost : $88M
Square Feet : 138,000
Project Description:
The West Hollywood Aquatic & Recreation Center (ARC) is the final phase of a masterplan for the park and community buildings at West Hollywood Park. The main goal of the project was to create a state-of-the-art community recreation and aquatic facility while taking the bulk of the square footage out of the park, creating more contiguous open park space in an extremely dense community.
The city of West Hollywood is one of extremes, which includes a robust senior population, a vibrant Russian immigrant population, movie stars and entertainers, athletes and one of the largest LGBTQ communities in the state. Creating a solution that brought this diverse population together involved intense community and business leader interaction throughout the design process.
Built as a replacement for an aging community gym and aquatics center, the stacked ARC reaches beyond the boundaries of the park, spanning across a public street and resting in a parking lot 35 feet below the finished grade of the park. A bridge connects the adjacent rooftop tennis courts and a main entry to the ARC at the park level. The project includes a two-court gymnasium at the park level and two rooftop swimming pools with breathtaking views of West Hollywood and beyond to downtown Los Angeles that span over the gymnasium courts. The building also includes expansive rooftop decks for respite and yoga, a cable-access TV studio, and a tiny-tots daycare facility. Community meeting rooms and office space for Parks & Recreation staff round out the program.
