Beachwood Magazine, community life feature

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Y ou can’t miss Beachwood’s gleaming new com-munity center. The stunning design, a 14,500 square foot extension of the city’s Modernist

municipal complex, blends airy aesthetics with state-of-the art function to provide a place for residents of all ages to play and learn.

Adjacent to the Family Aquatic Center, the new center blends seamlessly with City Hall. Visitors are welcomed through two entrances, one facing the aquatic center and the newly expanded parking lot, and the other fac-ing Fairmount Boulevard. Now, in addition to expanded space for community programs, city employees are

together in one building after years of being scattered in different locations across the city.

Entering the Main Hall, or assembly area, the visitor is struck by the soaring 30-foot-ceiling. The curving design of the top windows is repeated in the indoor-outdoor carpet, creating a harmonious symphony of shapes. The architects, Lowenstein Durante, and the builder, Panzica Construction Company, left no stones unturned when creating flexible, comfortable spaces to accommodate a variety of programs. Even though the lobby begins with a cool, Modernist look of glass, steel and polished wood, the peach and gray flooring, soft seating and pale yellow

B Y F E L I C I T Y H I L L

New center fosters community spirit

Karen Carmen, director of Beachwood’s department of community ser-vices (middle), with Edith Levine, Millie Mandel, Anne Blank and Bette Lichaw.

Centering on Community

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walls with soft-hued lighting create a sense of warmth that invites people to linger and mingle.

“The wall space is dedicated to local artists and changes monthly,” explains Karen Carmen, director of Beachwood’s department of community services. When the Center opened last September, the internationally acclaimed Peter Max was the inaugural artist and the Center showcased more than 100 original pieces of his work. The following months featured exhibitions by other local talent in addition to the nostalgic recreation of the famous downtown restaurant, The Silver Grille, complete with authentic vintage costumes on display.

As well as ample art gallery space, the six program rooms named after city roads plus the Beechwood Room – a historic nod to the city’s original spelling – offer climate-controlled, soundproofed areas for a host of activities.

“The Main Hall is like the starting point and ending point, where senior trips and outings can assemble, and we offer lots of senior and pre-school activities in these rooms,” Carmen says. “We also want to include

more family-oriented programs now that we have this center, as well as health programs that can touch differ-ent age groups.”

The rooms each have coffee stations, acoustic wall dividers offering more space options, and blinds that easily help filter out the abundance of natural light. In addition, two of the program rooms spill out onto two of the center’s three outside courtyards, where seating cre-ates extra assembly areas.

“Our goal here was to have spaces that are very flex-ible and multi-purpose,” says Carmen. “We have shades

to control glare, and sound and temperature controls to create comfortable areas that will accommodate every-one, from teens to seniors.”

New restrooms and a kitchen complete the handi-cap accessible building, which Carmen says was “built beyond code. We have more handicapped parking spaces than is required.”

Current popular offerings include parent and tot classes in art and dance, quilting, knitting, teen bab-ysitting classes, current events discussions, and the well-subscribed computer classes for seniors, where students can learn everything about the Internet

from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Lunch Bunch can be combined with another morning arts and movement class to give one continuous session from 10:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Lots of fun for kids and a well-deserved break for busy caretakers!

Both Makit’ Together and Movin’ Together give children aged 18 months to 5 years the opportunity to either create fun take-home projects or expend some creative energy exercising!

Meanwhile, budding artists can hone their skills in two drawing classes: Twoosy Doodler (described as giggles and squiggles!) and

Young Rembrandt (for developing fine motor skills among others).

Two art classes for elementary school children include Doodlers, where kids in grades 1 – 3 can study sculpture, painting, and fabric design and make their own, and Stampede, a class for grades 4 – 6 to learn about printing and stamp art with chances to put an original “stamp” on their own creations.

Residents can learn more about these and other exciting programs in the latest issue of the Recreation Guide.

Stretch Kids’ Creativity with New ClassesA s well as the brand new Community Center, the city has other

exciting new opportunities to offer families: an array of fun new classes for kids.

Twelve new pre-school enrichment classes have been added, including 10 taught at the Community Center:

Chickadee Tot Sports introduces youngsters to popular sports such as soccer, basketball, baseball, football and golf. The all-new A+ Lunch Bunch offers opportunities for socialization and fun activities such as Naturecraft (sunprints), painting, and science classes with materials

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and Ebay. Other opportunities for seniors include Saturday Night Dances, Canasta, Afternoon Party Bridge and Mahjong, on-going exercise classes such as Stretch and Swing to the Big Band Beat, and Thursday movies.

The younger generations, and their parents, can come along and get involved in everything from draw-ing and singing, to Pilates and tap dancing, or even learn Spanish. In addition, the Center hosts community events such as the annual family-friendly Halloween Party and other get-togethers.

The goal of the expanded new Community Center is to provide something for everyone. From its contemplative spaces for art and multi-media presentations, to its indoor and outdoor assembly areas and multi-functional com-munity rooms, Beachwood’s new Community Center is a bridge where residents of all ages can meet new friends, learn new skills, be inspired, entertained and informed. Now it’s time to bring in all the neighbors.

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