The Emeryville Center of Community Life was born of collaboration. The project was created by a unique partnership between the City of Emeryville and the Emery Unified School District. Three architectural firms and more than ten specialized consultants were united in a collaborative planning and design group called Nexus Partners, which undertook a community-based planning and design process that included more than twenty workshops. The creative ideas gathered from this process were then applied to articulate a framework for the final design.
The site serves as a community nexus, where education, community services, art and recreation programs are strategically integrated to form a vibrant and healthy gathering place for the entire Emeryville community.
The primary design goal was to commemorate and enhance the city of Emeryville’s ongoing civic and economic uplifting. The building’s entry points and roof lines highlight forms and spaces that reach upward and outward, as a manifestation of the community’s soaring growth and aspirational spirit. A central circulation spine doubles as an ongoing “community canvas” for event programming and educational content.
