UC Irvine

This project consists of a recreational and aquatic center that will be located in the city of West Hollywood. Considering the vast number of residents the vision for this recreation center is to provide additional space for them to exercise, destress and develop a sense of community. The first floor is designated as the parking garage for the structure and will include an automated entry system. The majority of the second floor will serve as a 17,000 square foot multisport court namely for indoor basketball and volleyball. Within this area, no columns can be placed to meet the requirements for appropriate court standards. The following two floors will serve as viewing areas for the courts as well as storage. Lastly, the roof will have two pools; one of which is a junior Olympic-sized pool. This aspect makes the project especially challenging, because the pools will not have any supporting columns directly beneath them. Therefore, a system of steel trusses will be designed to efficiently transfer the heavy loads of the pools to the columns. All beams and columns within this building are reinforced concrete with exception to the pool deck which will include steel beams. There are two sets of staircases on opposite sides of the structure that run through each floor. Elevators are also included on each floor to meet accommodation requirements. The first floor is a 16 ft tall, parking garage. The columns in the garage are spaced to provide adequate room for an entrance/exit, elevators, stairs, and parking spaces. Most of the second floor was designated for the sports courts and bleachers. The 15 ft tall columns were placed outside of the courts to avoid interference with the courts while also providing structural support for the upper floors. The third floor follows a similar layout to the second floor in order to accommodate the sports courts. This floor is 11 ft tall and primarily consists of a lounge along with other storage facilities. The 4th level is designated for the operation of the two swimming pools. This floor consists of a huge open span designed to accommodate the two pools, a floor space to house the necessary equipment for operation, and pathways for maintenance. The pools are supported by two types of steel trusses which will then transfer the force to either the adjacent column, the concrete core, or the concrete beams. Four 10’ steel trusses will support two sides of both pools while 4’ steel trusses. 4’ o-c, will act as the load bearing element for the midspan of the pool. The floor plan utilizes a one-way slab design, where concrete beams are placed 8’ apart. The outer perimeter columns are to be concrete and will transition to steel for the inner columns. The 5th level contains the pool deck, a bleacher area, and a balcony. We are currently in the process of including sustainable design options such as recycled building materials as well as striving to incorporate components from the living building challenge.