Mary & Frances Youth Center at VCU - Honor Award Winner

AIA Richmond Chapter 2008 Design Awards

Building Type: Public University (Education)
Architect:  BCWH Architects; Richmond, Va.
Owner:  Virginia Commonwealth University; Richmond, Va.
Square Footage: 5400 sf
Completed: Fall 2007
Cost: $2 million

Project Narrative:

The location of this building on the urban campus of VCU is of great importance. The disadvantaged youth served by the programs offered here will be exposed to a university campus setting, perhaps for the first time; where they can aspire to succeed and see that they too can go to a university and further their education. It is hoped that the programs and the setting will both help these children aspire to succeed and envision themselves going to a university and furthering their educational and personal development.

Lobs & Lessons began with an idea to reach out to disadvantaged youth in the Richmond area with life skills development programming and an introduction to the sport of tennis.  Lobs & Lesson began collaborating with more community centers and to date has worked with more than 250 children. The success of this program prompted Michael Fraizer, president and CEO of Genworth Financial, and his wife, Elizabeth, in honor of their mothers to donate the funds needed to design and build the VCU Mary and Francis Youth Center which houses the current Lobs & Lessons program along with other organizations involved in community outreach and education programs.

Constructed on the corner of Linden and Cary Streets, the Youth Center was designed to be reflective of the spirit of the adjacent Cary Street Gym. (The Cary Street Gymnasium is a large turn-of-the-century former public building once housing the City Auditorium and Public Market. It is a robust and substantial presence at 80 to 100 feet in height.) The facility was designed to address the Gymnasium in its materials and proportions while conforming to the scale and pattern of the adjacent Oregon Hill neighborhood.  The form of the building and placement along the alley recalls turn of the century stables and carriage houses. The Youth Center was designed to front the alley and stands in the middle of the block serving tennis on the north side and basketball and other youth recreation activities on the south side. The grounds include two hard-surface tennis courts and a basketball court and will include a relocated historic stable from the adjacent block. The tennis courts are enclosed by traditional tennis fencing enhanced by decorative brick piers along the perimeter of the site and chamfered corners at the Cary Street side to aid pedestrian movement and visibility.

The Plan:

In addition to tennis, the program focuses on academic study skills training and life skills development.  The 5,400 square-foot building includes a classroom, instructional space for individual tutoring, a computer room, and restrooms to serve groups of students arriving and departing the center. Upstairs there are offices to support current and future programs, a seminar / meeting room, and catering space.  An open stair unites the two floors in the center of the plan, enhancing passive security and increasing the apparent size of the space. A second stair provides catering access to the seminar / meeting room.

Transparency is maximized in the center of the building to unite activities on both sides of the site and allow observation for security and supervision. Large windows in the main program spaces join the tennis court area to the interior. Elevated porches front and back provide views of youth activities an each side of the building.  Use of the facility is dedicated to children in the program and is designed to function only during daytime hours, with the ability to host nighttime events inside the building for Board of Directors functions.

The Details:
The “Ball Wall” was designed within the profile of a tennis court, the court striping defined by stripes of clear finished maple. The left side of the “court” is populated by almost 1000 tennis balls. The balls are individually mounted and protected behind a glass door. Noted athletics and dignitaries will be signing tennis balls when they visit the facility, creating a “guest book” of friends and supporters.

The color pallet is representative of the colors of the tennis courts and balls, vivid, active and bright. Details like the tennis racquet hand rail exteriors and the “bouncing tennis ball” plates offered to the “tennis net” hand rail panels add a whimsical touch to the place, making it clear that tennis and children are both special here.

The building is planned to support a secure and orderly function for the benefit of children, staff, university, and neighbors. Passive security was incorporated into the building by allowing for effective observation of courts and spaces throughout the entire facility. There is also abundant natural light throughout.

 Jury Comments:

“I love this little building. There are great moments in the interior, it flows, it’s clean. Simple materials lead to a good composition. It’s very Virginia, but also inflected toward a Modernist expression. The trellises provide an interesting texture. There is a strong plan development, and the site moves are beautiful, with the building deferring to the play fields – an interesting collage attitude. The jury took issue with the straight-from-the-catalog railings, but overall, it’s beautifully done, one of those buildings you wish you’d designed yourself.”