Conceptual Architectural Design Study
for the
Outer Cape Regional Community Center
Prepared By
Catalyst Interior Design
Executive Summary
Project Summary
The town of Wellfleet with the assistance of Massachusetts State Senator Julian Cyr, secured funding to conduct a high-level conceptual design study for a regional recreational facility to serve the outer cape community, including the towns of Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown. The core idea for the facility initially centered around a public pool / aquatics facility to provide year-round pool access for community members.
John Bugbee, Assistant Town Manager for the Town of Wellfleet, contracted with Catalyst Architecture / Interiors to lead a limited conceptual design study with the input of an informal committee consisting of representatives from all participating towns.
Project Participants
The study process included a series of online meetings with the informal committee, consisting of representatives from the participating towns of Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown. The following individuals participated in the process:
John Bugbee – Assistant Town Administrator, Town of Wellfleet
Tom Guerino – Town Administrator, Town of Wellfleet
Becky Rosenberg – Recreation Director, Town of Wellfleet
Charity Robinson – Assistant Recreation Director, Town of Wellfleet
Suzanne Thomas – Director of Community Services, Town of Wellfleet
Christine Mickle – Director of Recreation & Beach, Town of Eastham
Jacob Congel – Assistant Director of Recreation & Beach, Town of Eastham
Damion Clements – Director of Community Services, Town of Truro
Jen Andersen – Deputy Community Services Director: Recreation and Beach, Town of Truro
Brandon Motta - Recreation Director, Town of Provincetown
Caroline Thompson - Assistant Recreation Director, Town of Provincetown
John Mattson – Director of Athletics, Nauset Regional High School
Project Methodology
Over the course of several weeks, Catalyst conducted online meetings with members of the
informal committee. In the preliminary stages, the group participated in high-level
conversations concerning existing community recreational facilities and programming, leading to the identification of needs for each community. The general consensus was that while the individual towns prefer to conduct their ongoing recreational programming locally, all communities would benefit from the creation of a regional facility that would provide year round recreational opportunities for a limited number of popular activities such as swimming, indoor pickleball, basketball, etc. The community pool quickly became the central focus of the committee, as this is a facility that each town would be challenged to add individually. Based on the committee’s input, Catalyst considered multiple criteria to identify potential site locations and requirements, develop a preliminary architectural space program and building footprint and provide an order of magnitude cost estimate for the committee’s consideration.
Geographic Analysis
The geographical analysis began with a regional overview and a graphic mapping exercise that includes all participating towns. The analysis identifies the geographic center of the region as well as existing complementary community facilities such as community centers, senior centers, recreational and athletic fields, and performance spaces.
The geographic analysis gives scale to travel distances in 5-mile increments, allowing the
committee to easily understand the relative distance between the extents of the region and its geographic center along the route 6 corridor. The graphic also demonstrates the limited amount of land area available for development due to the presence of the Cape Cod National Seashore.
Space Programming
The following building program was developed through a series of conversations with the
committee.
• Indoor aquatics facility with a 6-lane, 25-yard pool with diving platforms.
• Shallow warm water pool with accessible entry ramp.
• Dedicated team locker rooms to support high school swim team meets.
• Family locker rooms to serve aquatics and gymnasium facilities.
• Seating for a minimum of ~30 spectators. Full-sized gymnasium with blended-line
courts to provide year-round indoor programming.
• The ability to offer pickleball indoors for year-round use and to mitigate nuisance noise
in the neighboring community.
• Dedicated storage spaces for each town to store athletic equipment in the gymnasium.
• A public lobby and reception area with offices for staff and lifeguards.
• A multi-use community meeting room to accommodate fewer than fifty occupants.
Based on these requirements, Catalyst developed space programming diagrams that
established the floor area requirements and space adjacencies. The diagrams were refined
through additional conversations with the committee. The resulting building footprint is
approximately 26,965 square feet.
Notes on the aquatics facility:
The Nauset Regional High School swim teams currently utilize the privately owned Willie’s Gym pool facility in Eastham for their practices five days per week. The Willie’s Gym pool facility does not provide adequate space or seating for spectators. The teams lack access to facilities to host meets locally, and significant travel is required to participate in regional meets.
The committee viewed inclusion of the aquatics facility as an opportunity to create a new
homebase for the Nauset swim team, and club swim teams, comfortably accommodate spectators and to develop local interest in aquatic sports. Most importantly, each town was eager to use this facility for youth swimming lessons, which is vitally important and currently conducted outdoors and seasonally.
Potential Site Identification and Analysis
It was understood from the outset that the purpose of this study was not to identify a specific building site, but to quantify and qualify the requirements of an appropriate building site for the committee’s consideration. With this in mind, following the initial geographical analysis and space programming efforts, Catalyst developed a list of criteria for potential building sites that included adequate site area to accommodate the following:
• Large single story building footprint
• Large parking lot for approximately 120 cars
• Space for wastewater (septic) and stormwater treatment
• Space for future development of outdoor courts or playing fields
As a result, Catalyst estimates that approximately four (4) acres of upland developable area will be required to accommodate the building concept. Catalyst researched multiple properties within the region, both publicly and privately owned that generally meet the conceptual site criteria. A list of properties was generated that considers the above criteria as well as the presence of town infrastructure for wastewater, public domestic water supply, and also calculated travel distances to the extents of the region.