2007 AIA Michigan Design Honor Award
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 Boll Family YMCA
Detroit, Michigan

Jury Comment:
“The architecture invites you in and allows its internal functions to animate the streetscape and the design incorporates bold, tough, urban details.”tc "“The architecture invites you in and allows its internal functions to animate the streetscape and the design incorporates bold, tough, urban details.”"

Project Description:
The new health and fitness center is immersed in Detroit’s dedicated effort to re-stitch its frayed urban fabric. The project’s objective is not only to energize the membership of the health and fitness center, but also to release that energy back into the city. The center was constructed on a 1.43-acre urban brown-field site in downtown Detroit. Situated in the northeast section of the central business district, the site is crossed by People Mover tracks and is in walking distance from Comerica Park, Ford Field, and the newly emerging entertainment district.

The 100,000-square-foot building accommodates three major components: fitness, childcare, and arts and humanities, along with the requisite support spaces. A warm water pool, leisure pool, and four-lane lap pool; a full basketball court, two racquetball courts, and 1/13-mile banked indoor running track; exercise equipment, weight machines, and free weights; and two aerobic rooms comprise the fitness component. The childcare component includes a short-term Child Watch area, along with a fully licensed all-day childcare center for children aged two years through five, and a private charter school program for Kindergarteners. A 225-seat black-box style theatre, a family arts center, and classrooms for media, literary, and visual arts comprise the arts and humanities component. Support spaces include men’s, women’s, and special needs locker rooms, massage/spa area, member’s lounge, branch offices, and the main lobby. The health and fitness center is the first in the country to house all of these functions in one building.

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