The Agoura Hills California Recreation Center is a perfect example of a multipurpose government and community center space that seamlessly meets the city’s administrative and community needs. Achieving this ideal melding isn’t a happy circumstance; it results from intentional design decisions, community input and durable and adaptable furniture.
Community Input – Making the Design Work
From the project’s inception, the Agoura Hills administrators involved the community, holding several events and collecting input about community needs, expectations and desires. The resulting space reflects the environmental sensitivities of the community’s residents through extensive use of energy-efficient systems, building orientation and rainwater catchment systems, to cite a few.
To capitalize on the area’s natural beauty, the design uses large expanses of glass, framing the stunning views of the Santa Monica Mountains. Sliding glass walls allow indoor spaces to connect with outdoor spaces for even greater integration of the common area with nature.
Today, residents and groups take full advantage of the multipurpose government and community center spaces, renting them for various purposes: The common spaces accommodate traditional sit-down gatherings in both conference and dining configurations while a fully equipped kitchen supports food preparation and service, whether catered or prepared on site.
Popular events include
- Wedding receptions
- Training sessions
- Dances
- Bar and Bat Mitzvahs
- Community activities such as Mah Jongg
- After school activities and programs for all ages
In a nod to the Agoura Hills’ older residents, a dedicated room creates the perfect venue for senior-focused programs and activities. And, in a demonstration of good stewardship of taxpayer funds, the rental revenues from the common spaces fund the community’s recreation programs.
Meeting community needs, generating money for recreational programs, offering a beautiful and environmentally conscious facility and serving Agoura Hills’ administrative needs? This is how you make a multipurpose government and community center work.
Rugged, Reliable and Flexible Furniture
The Agoura Hills multipurpose government and community center is designed for rapid reconfiguration. This allows the space to meet different use cases. Easily adaptable furniture and furnishings make this possible.
Haworth Planes flip top tables, and Haworth Very stacking wire chairs are used for reliable, quick, and easy reconfiguration of the community conference room. These pieces allow the room to be reconfigured for groups ranging in size from two to twenty in minutes, not hours. The finish of the Planes Table matches that used in the common areas, while the Very conference chairs introduce rich wood-tone accents.
The Agoura Hills multipurpose government and community room also use rugged and flexible tables from Virco for events requiring round tables. And, since the common area tables are invariably draped with a tablecloth, we recommended a no-frills, lower cost finish for them, helping the city invest their budget dollars for maximum effect.
The community conference room uses the same Planes Tables and the Very conference chairs on casters. Reconfiguring the room for groups ranging in size from two to twenty takes minutes, not hours. The finish of the Planes Table matches that used in the common areas, while the Very conference chairs introduce rich wood-tone accents.
The Senior Room features round, four-person flip-top tables in a linen laminate served by Very side chairs with arms and casters. Just as with all the common areas, reconfiguration is fast and easy.
Flexible Design for Administrative Functions
The multipurpose government and community recreation center also supports select administrative needs of the city of Agoura Hills with a mix of open workspaces, private offices and conference rooms.
The open office areas use the two-person Compose workstation from Haworth. The integrated storage and expansive work surfaces provide ample room to work and keep control of documents. The Haworth Very conference chair provides workers with the best ergonomic support and comfort, while the linen-colored laminate work surface eliminates potential eye strain from working with paper on a dark background.
The private offices have an Adaptable desk paired with Compose storage elements. The private office storage surfaces have the brazilian walnut laminate finish, a rich note of color that compliments the exposed wooden structure without creating a dark environment. A high-back Very task chair provides a high level of ergonomic support and two guest chairs, the B_sit chair in the Director’s office and the style-forward Zody chair in the other offices, provide seating for impromptu meetings and visitors.
The staff conference room features the same Haworth Planes table and Very conference chairs used throughout the facility. In this room, however, we reversed the color palette using a Columbian walnut laminate table top and white chair finishes.
Designing Your Own Multipurpose Government and Community Center
Mixing government and community space needs in the same facility makes sense for many reasons. If developing a multipurpose government and community center project is on your horizon, let’s get together and discuss how to create your own success story.
Contact us, call 818.735.0333 or email us at hello@poi.bz to learn more.
Architects: RNT Architects
