ARCHITECTURE | HONOR

Entry Name: The Salvation Army, Ray & Joan Kroc Community Center
Firm: HDR Architecture, Inc.
Owner: USC Salvation Army
Photographer: Kurt Johnson, Omaha, Nebraska

Three forms, each expressing a major program element, are composed on the site in dialogue with one another and in conversation with the adjacent parks and with the community. The assembly space is the focal point of the composition. Placed prominently in the center of the site, and on axis with 29th street, this highly-visible, oval-shaped volume is the envelope for the core activities, performing arts, and general assembly.

The recreational component anchors the site, serving as a backdrop to the assembly element. Placed along the south edge and pulled up to 30th street, the pedestrian scale is reinforced. Hovering above and bridging these two volumes is the educational program element. This bar of flexible classrooms physically ties the complex together, terminating in the upper level of the main assembly room and providing a defined point of building and site entry, a portal though which the complex is navigated.

Together, the three volumes establish a found “festival plaza” program element, the connecting element, weaving the building proper and the adjacent public parks together. This connectivity augments the presence of both the center and the parks, focusing the energy of the neighborhood and establishing a communal environment.

Jury Comments: This project shows considerable thought to site integration. The sophisticated interiors were among the best we saw in terms of materials, restraint, and use of color. Simple, clean. We need more of this in our cities. Great program and facility for community only serves to make neighborhood better.