The San Bruno Recreation and Aquatic Center (SBRAC) serves as a bridge between past and present, the natural landscape and city of San Bruno, and indoor and outdoor recreation.

The SBRAC is the culmination of a fourteen-year community process originating from the deadly 2010 San Bruno gas line explosion. From this tragedy, the City embarked on an extensive engagement process which culminated in the community’s vision for a new recreation and aquatic facility that would serve as an anchor for a revitalized City Park.

Architecturally, the project is more than the sum of its constituent program elements. Composed of three integrated community, recreation, and aquatics pavilions, the SBRAC creates a highly visible destination that integrates with both active and passive park landscapes.

The community pavilion hosts childcare, classroom, and event spaces while linking to the recreation pavilion through a gracious double-height community living room. In turn, the recreation pavilion incorporates a multi-use gym, running track, and dance studio. Finally, the indoor-outdoor aquatics pavilion’s pools and party rooms connect to the gym through a secondary entry, as well as co-located changing rooms and exercise spaces. Gently flowing uphill, these pavilions integrate with the park through a series of outdoor ‘rooms,’ from dedicated classroom patios to a community-amphitheater and entry plaza, to the outdoor pool and splash pad.

The architecture of the SBRAC utilizes a holistic approach to sustainability by reducing energy usage through careful building siting, envelope design, and massing. To incorporate the wide range of programs, as well as the intensive energy use necessitated by aquatics programming, the building’s volumes are carefully scaled to their necessary functions. By creating three separate rooflines and embedding the building into the hillside, the community, aquatic, and recreation pavilions are conscientiously designed and articulated both in their massing and envelope design.