The Design Team worked closely with the City of Raymore, Missouri on the design of this 9,500 sf multi-purpose facility on the City’s municipal campus. Envisioned as a place for the Raymore community to gather and connect, the facility is designed to be highly flexible to accommodate a variety of community functions and needs, including weddings, fitness classes, small group gatherings, festivals, and large civic meetings, among others. The design of the project directly responds to the client’s and community’s defined imperatives to be bold and flexible, gather and connect people, leave a legacy, create an authentic Raymore “place,” and support Raymore’s identity as a thriving community.A simple concept was developed very early in the process—at the interview, to be exact. Responding to the curving street which fronted the site, two main forms were proposed--one housing administrative and support functions, and one housing the main gathering functions. These forms were shifted apart, rotated slightly to respond to the curving street and connected with a truncated gathering space. Aside from connecting the main programmatic functions east to west, this interstitial gathering space also connects the main entrance with a greenspace to the rear of the site. The facility houses the administrative staff for the Parks and Recreation Department, and fittingly, it encourages visitors to interact between indoors and outdoors. The Design Team, which included landscape design by Plaid Collaborative, developed a series of shaded gathering spaces adjacent to the greenspace, including a large patio shaded by a monumental cedar and galvanized steel shade structure.
Work completed by Dan Maginn FAIA while a Principal at DRAW Architecture & Urban Design, LLC.
