The Cambridge War Memorial building renovation project involved complete renovation of an existing, three-story 150,000 square feet building. Located at the city’s Public High school, the War Memorial Recreation Center serves 2,000 students daily and functions as Cambridge’s central community athletic facility with its attached swimming pool and field house. The recreation center includes three pools, a gymnasium with basketball and volleyball courts, a state of the art fitness room, a multipurpose room and separate locker room facilities for school and public use, and an adjacent field house containing courts and an indoor running track.
The renovation involves providing better public circulation and access through new school and community entrances, new student locker and shower facilities, separate locker rooms for night and weekend use by non-students, administrative offices and classrooms for the high school and for recreation department programs, and flexible, shared spaces to serve all users.
As a complex and semi-occupied renovation project, the renovation involved complex challenges like extensive asbestos and hazardous material abatement, as well as complete demolition and removal of the existing MEP system, partition walls and interior finishes.
Sponsored by AGC of Massachusetts, a professional association of commercial and institutional builders, the juried awards program recognizes the constructor, owner and primary designer of successful projects like offices, healthcare facilities, schools, laboratories, academic institutions and several notable public buildings from across New England. In total, 24 projects were cited in the categories of Honor, Merit and Performance.
