New Huffhines Recreation Center opens in Richardson

by Andrew Laska of Richardson Echo

RICHARDSON — On October 17, the new Huffhines Recreation Center was opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony and open house. The $6 million project replaces the aging center built in the 1970s. The new center offers multi-use spaces and more flexibility.

The new center was financed through a 2006 city bond election at a cost of $6 million. It is one of two new projects at Huffhines. The other are the ball fields being upgraded on the site of the existing fields across the waterway from the new center. Recent heavy rain has delayed finish of both the center and the fields. Some exterior elements of the center, such as the walks and landscaping near the bridge on the north side of the center, are not yet complete.

The new center boasts vast improvements over the previous center. Both in location and architecture, the new facility is superior. The location is on Plano Road and unlike the previous facility, it does not require entrance to a residential neighborhood to reach the building. It is located on the east side of Plano Road just north of Belt Line. The building was designed by architects Barker, Rinker, Seacat. The contactor was CORE Construction and the landscape architect was DHM Design.

Architecturally, the building is set in a restrained post-modern style. The pillared entrance with the bannered “Huffhines Recreation Center” sign above the entryway recalls early 20th century baseball parks in miniature. It presents a large centered “grand entrance” which gives the user every sense of where to enter the building and it gives the exterior a central focus as one enters. In front of the building are stone cut out benches, which give a sense of solidity and permanence.

When walking to the entrance, one will notice red brick paving on the round circular driveway. This red bricking is actual bricking from when Greenville Avenue was known as the “Red Brick Road” and was paved with brick. This is a welcome addition, with the only criticism being that these bricks will be degraded by traffic and damaged over time.

The postmodern style is entirely appropriate for the area. The nearby residences were built in the 1970s when postmodern homes were all the rage in the tract homes built in the Duck Creek and Yale Park areas. While the new center does not reflect architectural features that were necessarily prominent in those 1970 period buildings, it does reflect an intention to playfully include features with context.

One enters the building from the west. You will walk along an open corridor with a stone façade to your left. While municipal buildings might be thought of as having bland and institutional walls, that is not the case here. This stonework extends the old stadium feel and makes the space more welcoming. The ceiling shows exposed steel truss work with the air service ducts being painted but exposed. Painted steel beams are strategically used again to give the sense of stadium permanence. The ceiling at points has various geometric false ceiling sections that hold smaller lights and thse elements break up what would be the monotony of uncovered ceiling elements. Th entrance floor is smooth concrete lacquered in several colors.

Above you there are clerestory windows that are part of the scheme to let passive light into the space so less lighting energy is required. Speaking of windows, when you enter the various partitionable activity rooms to your left, you notice floor to ceiling windows. Those windows are on the north side so they are never exposed to direct sunlight and again the expanse of windows opens the rooms to passive light. Those windows give a wonderful view of the waterway that gently slopes down with the new ball fields in full view across the way. The center pavilion for the fields fits architecturally with the center itself and will give more unity to the area. Incidentally, those activity rooms are designed for multiple uses including a large presentation or recital space complete with dance floor on the stage.

If you leave the activity rooms and go to the right to the entrance corridor you see a game room with the obligatory ping-pong tables and other table games, an exercise area with new equipment, and gymnasium waiting for basketball games to commence. The exercise area has cardio and circuit training. There are full locker rooms with showers of course.

The park and center are named after one of the Huffhines family who had a homestead on the site and donated the land for the park. There are historical references to Richardson's past in the activity rooms.

The building is also part of the U.S. Green Building Program’s LEED certification program. In addition to the passive lighting to reduce energy costs, the building boasts a number of environmentally friendly design features and building practices. A large percentage of the construction waste was diverted from landfills into recycling or reuse. The site features recapture of rainwater. The interior was constructed with environmentally friendly materials such as recycled and locally obtained materials, low emissions paints, and environmentally friendly carpet.

On the opening day, there were smiles, and ohs and ahs. I generally heard little complaint and the reaction was overwhelmingly positive. Parks Director Michael Massey noted in his opening remarks that there was a great team in the city that put the plan together. Mayor Gary Slagel said the community participation in the process, especially the desire to incorporate green building into the recreation center, was an important part of the center's success.

Slagel invited not only the current city council to cut the ceremonial ribbon but past council members in attendance as well. The ribbon was actually twisted orange and red ribbons. I was told that symbolized Texas and OU, who were playing their rival game that day with yet another connection to sports and recreation.

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