

Southeast Raleigh YMCA & Elementary School
Raleigh, NC
- K12 Education
- Parks & Recreation
115,000 SF
Delivering on a Community’s Promise
A school building or recreation center sometimes has a higher purpose beyond youth education or physical fitness. As the Southeast Raleigh YMCA and Elementary School attests, they can be safe places for lifelong learning, leadership development, community wellness, and instruments for ending the cycle of intergenerational poverty.

Challenge
In 2013, the YMCA of the Triangle summoned a group of volunteers and staff to determine how to better serve the area. The Southeast Raleigh Task Force vetted numerous partners and 20 possible sites for a YMCA facility. As they collected information and data in Southeast Raleigh, it became clear that the community’s need—and desire—was for much more than just a new facility with YMCA services and programs.
Ultimately, the partners – including the Wake County Public School System and the Southeast Raleigh Promise – together with the community, determined the finished facility would need to balance all the amenities of a regional YMCA with a 503-student elementary school. Additionally, it would build a bigger vision – one focused on collaborative community change – with facilities, programming, and support to address critical community needs and enhance existing assets with the goal of ending the cycle of intergenerational poverty in the areas of Southeast Raleigh most affected by it.
Beyond this, the project would need to address that the most appropriate site came with further challenges – leaking underground storge tanks, soil contamination, asbestos, underground waste piles, and the like would require extensive mitigation. Stream buffers exist along Walnut Creek which forms the northern boundary of the site and most of the property is positioned within the 100-year Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) floodplain.


Strategy
Such a public-private partnership required a unique vision, purposeful communication, selfless collaboration, creativity, and resourcefulness from all participants. The result is a welcoming and energized community icon.
Shared spaces, like the gym, cafeteria, and community commercial kitchen, are centrally situated for optimal use and are purposely on display – bold colors, activity, and interior glow visible from the street as symbols of community and positive change. A cistern captures rainwater from the pool house roof, with reclaimed water used to irrigate the playfield. Above the Pre-K suite is a green roof with multiple educational garden plots.
The U-shaped floor plan helps break down the building’s visual mass and provides a welcoming courtyard for its true main entrance in the protected interior of the site adjacent to parking and student drop-off points.


At the end of the courtyard is a pedestrian spine, separated from vehicular traffic, leading to play areas intended for older age groups, as well as the multi-purpose field and outdoor classroom space. A link to the Walnut Creek Greenway was added to connect to its natural surroundings while providing enhanced walkability for the community.
At the end of the courtyard is a pedestrian spine, separated from vehicular traffic, leading to play areas intended for older age groups, as well as the multi-purpose field and outdoor classroom space. A link to the Walnut Creek Greenway was added to connect to its natural surroundings while providing enhanced walkability for the community.
The design reduced a large amount of the existing impervious surface area and took advantage of the site’s existing topography and hydrology to manage stormwater.
Overall, the facility is part of a larger mixed-use “Beacon Site” that will include affordable housing, a business incubator, and access to banking, dining, healthy food, and healthcare intended to serve as a catalyst for meaningful change.

Learning Commons
The elementary school accommodates up to 503 students in grades PK-5 with collaborative learning commons dedicated to each grade level to facilitate an inquiry-based learning curriculum.
Cafeteria / Shared Spaces
The community kitchen, along with other shared spaces, provides adult education after school hours and serves as a collaborative commons during the school day.
Community Kitchen
The community kitchen, along with other shared spaces, provides adult education after school hours and serves as a collaborative commons during the school day.

lobby
The design provides an elementary school’s safety and security while making the full range of YMCA programs available to the surrounding residents in one unified, inviting, and community-focused structure.

Pool and Promenade
The pool house and aquatic center is located along a main pedestrian promenade that leads visitors to a shared entry for the main building. The sprays from the splash pad provide soothing acoustics and an evaporative cooling backdrop for students, visitors, and YMCA patrons.

Media Center / Interiors
Ample access to outdoor views and natural daylighting. Low-emitting (air-quality) and regionally sourced materials were used throughout the facility.


Exterior Commons
The school hosts a variety of outdoor learning and play spaces, as well as the school system’s only campus swimming pool to support experiential connections to nature and ensure that every student will learn to swim before they graduate from elementary school.
Gym
In addition to the elementary school, the facility has all of the amenities of a regional YMCA full-size gymnasium, wellness center, two aerobics group fitness rooms, an indoor track, locker rooms, an outdoor aquatics center, and an athletics field with a shelter structure.

Shared Play
A play space dedicated to students during the day and YMCA visitors after hours is delineated by an undulating picket fence, which is softened by native grass plantings and groupings of reclaimed boulders. This play space engages users of all ages with a reading garden, orchard, reclaimed log steppers, a water pump, a performance stage, and a community garden.
Community Gardens
The community gardens provide educational opportunities for the children to interact with nature and help supply produce for the community kitchen.