A Place To Gather

Creating a vibrant, bustling community complex

By Yann Cowart
Photos: Goodwyn Mills Cawood/Edward Badham

Communities stake their reputation on the amenities they offer, to both visitors and residents. The more activity creating buzz around a community, the more desirable a place it is in which to live or visit. As a result, municipal leaders look to invest in projects that set their community apart.

A substantial, well-developed community complex offers an enriched diversity of activity—attracting tourists with trade shows and sporting events, as well as drawing local residents with community sports, expos for local businesses, and even private parties.

At the same time, the ability to support a wide range of activity in the same space provides solid, longstanding ROI as well. Here’s how.

Key Challenges
Community buildings often fulfill a variety of regional needs. One of the design challenges is their sheer size. These facilities must be large enough to accommodate trade shows, travel tournaments, sports, and wellness activities, as well hold various conventions that draw large crowds and require an abundance of open space for displays.

In some ways, community centers are replacing indoor malls in their scope of occupancy and the way they promote interaction among members of the community. The more flexible these large, open spaces are, the more a community can leverage their use.

The buildings themselves are not revenue-neutral. While subsidized, they serve a wide clientele and provide a variety of opportunities for area residents. Ensuring that the buildings are capable of operating 365 days a year extends their usefulness, and the more agile the space, the greater the chances of maximizing occupancy.

Components Of A Community Complex
While large-scale events attract a crowd, smaller spaces for meetings, breakout sessions, and other small-scale endeavors are also necessary.

Programmatically, communities often underestimate the amount of meeting room space based on the overall size of the building because they don’t want to take square footage away from the large-volume spaces.

One solution to increase the smaller spaces without limiting their use is to design them as “flex spaces,” which can also serve as meeting rooms, registration spaces, control areas, or even locker rooms.

A space with optimal flexibility hosts travel sports for young people and competitive sports for adults and retirees, or adapts to accommodate more novel sporting events.

While community leaders may not have a current need, designing valuable flexibility into a facility requires planning as well as an eye toward industry trends. Certain features extend the use of a community facility and are worth the investment.

For example, installing an AV lighting-control component makes the space usable for concerts, plays, weddings, or dance events; a food-service space equipped to handle more than just concessions is also valuable for banquets.

Likewise, data-connection points and a robust fiber-optic infrastructure, including 5G upgrades, in conjunction with AV controls, can make the space attractive to e-sports events.

Providing efficient, adequate storage space for equipment when not in use ensures the space modifies quickly from one use to another.

Solutions For Success
While a large, open space may seem relatively simple, key considerations, including lighting and sound, contribute to the success of the finished design. To optimize the volume of the space, it should be as unencumbered as possible. This means open volume with minimal columns and other obstructions that limit the possible layouts for the room.

Getting adequate light into a large space is challenging, but emphasizing the use of natural daylight wherever possible not only cuts utility costs but also makes the space feel more open.

Acoustics are also a challenge in large, open spaces, especially where hard surfaces are used. Materials selection comes with the challenge of trying to balance acoustical needs with durability and safety.

Decisive material-selection criteria involve research, striking a balance among an array of factors: products that are open to the public, but also sporting events, as well as frequent reconfiguration of the space, facilitating the moving of furniture and equipment, while providing enough cushion to prevent injuries during sporting events.

This is especially true when balancing acoustical concerns with safety and durability considerations. It is important to understand the building design from the end user’s perspective, emphasizing product selections that support the primary activities planned for the building.

When project teams understand the market and potential revenue streams for the facility, they can make valuable investments, dedicating capital that will maximize the ROI. Because community complexes receive tax dollars for construction and operation, they must represent not only the culture of the communities in which they are located but also other potential revenue streams.

This combination of master-planning informs decisions in preparing for future expansion while avoiding a common tendency to initially overbuild. Community outreach—especially in the marketing and PR arena—helps drive prioritization in the design as well as the future use of the facility.

If the community has a rich historical tradition or a unique local flavor, this can be incorporated into the design and branding of the facility.

Insight
Effective security protocols protect the building and its occupants. With today’s security technology, electronic devices are placed throughout the building. Choosing the ideal locations for cameras and other security infrastructure is key to designing a facility that keeps everyone safe. Large events often include security checkpoints, so designing the building with good flow so control points aren’t cumbersome makes the user experience more pleasant.

One of the best ways to get the most from a new community facility is overlaying different activities to optimize use. With efficient coordination and a flexible design, the same space can be used for different functions.

An example project, the Finley Center, has a portable basketball floor. It is easy to remove and store, making transition from tournaments to trade shows simple, efficient, and quick. A mechanical storage system reduces the need for storage elsewhere.

Dimensions—setting the right distances between courts—is important, as is finding the right materials for walls and dividers. Around the central core of the facility, ample space provides circulation to support all the functions of the facility, including dining services, restrooms, and flexible spaces for breakout sessions.

Flexibility depends on the type and location of the facility. Spaces that are adaptable and configurable can change uses over time; for example, the primary activities can shift from sporting events to trade shows.

Some design features make sense, no matter what the application. Loading docks and effective site circulation make it easier to bring in equipment that supports a variety of activities.

Yann Cowart‚ AIA, LEED AP, is a senior architect of sports architecture with Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood in the firm’s Montgomery, Ala., office. Reach him at (334) 271-3200, or yann.cowart@gmcnetwork.com.