Robert Crown Community Center

Evanston,  Illinois

The Robert Crown Community Center synthesizes park and building; nesting and embedding large built mass within a suburban neighborhood. 

The given request for proposal requires a new center that boasts two ice hockey rinks along with a gym, library, commercial space and community space. These programs require a substantial amount of square footage and could potentially require a large building in the middle of a neighborhood that contains one story homes.

Also, the sprawling building and parking would severely decrease the green space around the site, minimizing the use for immediate neighbors. With this in mind, it is important to contextualize the building to it’s immediate surroundings, by combining park and building, the large square footage can be accomplished without removing a substantial amount of green space.