project delivery method.
Design-Bid-Build
value.
$5M+
status.
Completed
project description.
More than ten years after fire destroyed the Pan-Pacific Auditorium, the new $5.8-million Pan-Pacific Park Recreation Center’s 45-foot-high spire recalls the auditorium’s fin-shaped towers and faces west on Beverly Boulevard at Gardner Street, just as the old building did. The 1930s style, defined by curving shapes that hint at motion and the machine age, is also integrated into the new center’s gymnasiums, stage and classroom space. Unlike in the old Pan-Pacific, the architects chose to carry the Streamline Modern style inside the new 17K SF building, less than a fifth the size of the original. White stripes cut into the brick-red and forest-green building on the outside. Inside, the colors are reversed, with colored strips of uneven concrete blocks contrasting with smooth, white-block walls.
Glass blocks allow light to illuminate the entryway and adjacent classrooms. Photo tiles in the recreation center’s entryway offer a pictorial representation of great works of architecture, including the Pan-Pacific. A double-sided stage opens into one of two gymnasiums and a classroom. Outside, is a basketball court and playground equipment. The remaining area was landscaped to match the rest of Pan-Pacific Park.