Measure EE New Mira Costa gym design unveiled
A preliminary rendering of the new Mira Costa athletic facility. Courtesy Gensler
The Manhattan Beach Board of Education last month received a look at early designs for the new Mira Costa athletic facility, a proposed 70,500 sq. ft. building that will replace the aging Fisher Gym and provide the campus and the community with a new focal point.
The $39 million building, funded through the passage of bond Measure EE last fall, is intended to be a state-of-the-art training facility and a large pavilion with a 2,500-person seating capacity for student gatherings and games.
Gensler, the architectural firm hired to design the facility, held a “qualitative visioning” community workshop May 9, and on May 17 met with a steering committee appointed by the school board to oversee the design process. On June 7, principal architect Peter Barsuk and senior associate architect Steve Chang unveiled preliminary renderings.
Chang told the board that the building’s modern, understated design, perched above the athletic field and adorned with a large “MC” emblem above a “Home of the Mustangs” sign, responds to community input and facility needs.
“We are striving to create a project for you that is functional, that is flexible, that has a lot of natural light, is welcoming, and has a lot of balance,” Chang said.
The schematic design includes 28,700 of gym space, 13,400 in performance space (including a wrestling room and a glass-walled weight room overlooking the fields), 8,150 sq. ft. in the team room and locker rooms, 7,110 sq. ft. of admin and storage space, and 14,400 sq. ft. in circulation areas, such as hallways. The building also has a congregation/patio space outside the entrance; the entrance itself featurned a high-ceiled, light-infused and airy foyer intended to house the Mira Costa Hall of Fame.
Chang said one idea the architects are exploring is using some of the flooring from Fisher Gym as a design element in the Hall of Fame area.
“We are looking at salvaging a portion of that really kind of historic floor and use it as a ceiling element or a wall element to bring history in, and this would also be where you’d see all the CIF championships…maybe a game ball from an important game, so everyone who comes in experiences that,” Chang said.
The preliminary design’s cost estimate, however, was $40.8 million, or $1.8 million beyond bond funds.
“That tells us we need to start looking at ways to bring the budget and the project back into alignment,” said Barsuk. “We are a little bit over 4 percent over, which is not something that is really alarming to us at this point but it is something we have to be mindful of.”
Towards that end the architects prepared to “rip cords” — options to reduce the size of the building. The first option would eliminate a “flex space,” a couple team rooms and a small classroom to reduce the square footage by 2,700 sq. ft.; the second, which Bursuk noted was less preferable but worth investigating, would eliminate a third court in the larger of the two gym spaces, trimming 3,800 sq. ft.
“We just want to put it out there as something we can look at,” Bursuk said.
Built into cost estimates is some flexibility for cost uncertainties, particularly $2.1 million in possible construction cost escalations and $3.6 million set aside as a ten percent project contingency. Construction is scheduled for 2020 and the regional market is bustling (see story page 12).
“We just want to be prepared in case the escalation in the market is more than we projected it to be,” Chang said.
Barsuk stressed that everything is preliminary and budget detail will be clearer closer to when construction occurs. The two options just provide more flexibility, he said.
“We are just trying to make sure we are providing a building that fits the budget,” Barsuk said. “We realize it’s $ 39 million; there isn’t anymore.”
Board members were pleased with initial designs.
“It’s nice to put a visual…to everything we talked about in larger group meetings,” said board member Christine Cronin-Hurst. “Now that I’m starting to see this, I’m more and more excited about this — it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, this could be what we are headed for. So I like the clean lines, I like the glass — I like to take advantage of the natural light. I also like the fact you said it might be nice to salvage some wood pieces and incorporate it in the design in some fashion. That’s kind of an interesting, novel idea. It seems everything in design these days uses recycle, upcycle, whatever word you want to use.”
But her favorite part of the design was the large “MC” above the entrance.
“To me, that captured what we are trying to achieve through this whole thing,” she said. “It’s a community building, but we are Costa.”
The board will receive another update August 16.
“We are getting to the point in the project where we are going to have to make a decision, to really come up with a recommendation of how to move forward,” Barsuk said.