TREC | Training Recreation Education Center
Newark, New Jersey
22,000 SF | gymnasium | fitness & yoga | daycare | instructional kitchen | classrooms | community meeting rooms | study commons
In an effort to revitalize the community and empower its citizens, the Newark Housing Authority commissioned our
firm to design the Training Recreation Education Center (TREC), a place where children, adults, and seniors can gather,
exercise, learn, and receive training in professional skills, in a facility that embodies the spirit of social connectivity.
Inspired by its triangular site adjacent to Weequahic Park (Olmsted Brothers, 1901) and straddling a residential
neighborhood and industrial zone, our building is expressed as two offset juxtaposed triangular forms—one glassy and
transparent the other opaque and white—merged together to form a vibrant mixed-use community center for the
residents of South Ward.
The 22,000-square-foot building is entered through a plaza on Ludlow Street that leads to the lobby and information
desk, with a commons beyond that bisects the two triangular forms and provides group seating. The solid form, clad
in aluminum fins, houses the recreational components of the center, including a basketball court, men’s and women’s
locker rooms, and a fitness room and a yoga studio that overlook a community garden for outdoor athletics. The glazed
volume offers a pre-school and daycare center for children, three state-of-the-art classrooms, and two large community
meeting spaces, all fronting Ludlow Street, allowing passersby to observe the energy and activity within.