YMCA Joint-Use Athletic & Aquatic Facility

The new Collins & Katz Family YMCA facility is a groundbreaking joint-use project with collaboration between LAUSD’s University High School and the Metropolitan YMCA. Located on an existing campus, the new facility was designed with joint-uses in mind and allows students to share access to the gymnasium court and teen center. An indoor pool, fitness center, a rooftop running track and court, and adjacent parking structure are available for YMCA members.

Taking advantage of the corner’s visual exposure to Santa Monica Boulevard, a vaulted roof shelters both entry and pool. Responding to the Boulevard’s commercial and industrial spaces, the principal street side-wall of the pool is a green ‘living wall’ that creates a fresh garden setting for the building. The remainder of the building shapes itself around additional garden courtyards and roof courts, allowing recreation and exercise programs to flow from inside to outside.

In recognition of designing a concrete tilt-up structure that meets structural code requirements for a school building, and that saved significant construction time, the YMCA was awarded the Tilt-Up Achievement Award from the Tilt-Up Concrete Association.