Ridge Road Recreation Center

The Ridge Road Recreation Center is located on a challenging 10.25 acre site in the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington, DC and is bordered by the Fort Dupont National Park. The expansive site includes a new turf football field and an outdoor pool and pool house in need of refurbishment. This deserving community waited for more than a decade before funding was allocated for the construction of a new recreation center that would replace the cramped and decrepit 1960s-era existing facility.

Sorg was commissioned to design the new 25,000 sf center to cater to an active senior population (the Ridge Road Goldens), critical community youth programs, as well as a variety of youth athletic organizations. The program of the facility includes a full-sized gymnasium, fitness area, dedicated senior and teen spaces, multi-purpose classrooms, computer lab, locker rooms and pool facilities, as well as support spaces.

Located at the center of the north-south axis, the new facility creates a much needed link between the pool, playfields, and other functions on the site. A frosted channel-glass entry cube is oriented towards Ridge Road, welcoming the community in and taking advantage of views toward the woods of Fort Dupont Park. The simple building massing consists of two larger volumes, connected by a third circulation and program concourse. This long glass bar parallels the road and appears as an uninterrupted glass pavilion in the park.