Sandwich Center for Active Living Sandwich, Mass.

Project Description:

The two-story Center for Active Living was the first community facility built for the public in 40 years, and functions as a replacement for the town’s aging senior center and as a recreational building. It is designed to meet the needs of both the community’s aging population and its youths.

The building provides an environment dedicated to learning, creativity and social connections. It includes more than 15 formal and informal gathering, program and recreational spaces throughout its two floors. The first floor includes an outdoor café area, a 2,000-square-foot multipurpose room (which can be easily reconfigured into a lecture area, a dining space for 140 people, or a movie theater), a spacious kitchen with cooking class and eating space, a medical wing, and a 9,000-square-foot gymnasium. The second floor contains activity rooms, fitness areas, a conference room, office space and a games room. The top floor of the gymnasium has a walking track where visitors can exercise or observe the gymnasium below.

The building is functional, versatile and a pleasant place to be. It is also extremely energy-efficient, taking advantage of solar power and geothermal heating and cooling systems. The interior spaces are flooded with natural light due to the large windows throughout the space. The surrounding landscape includes patio spaces for informal gathering and programming, bocce courts, pickleball courts, and easy access to walking trails at an adjacent open field.