Episcopal High School of Jacksonville, Walton Boathouse and Riverside Activity Center

Situated amongst statuesque live oaks on 18 acres along the Arlington River in Jacksonville, this facility is home to the school’s crew team. It also features a multifunction clubroom and a bleacher-style outdoor classroom that will accommodate environmental classes, as well as provide a place for coaches to address their crews.
The building has a central mass clad in textured, colored concrete block, flanked by wood-clad volumes. The main block contains the primary spaces: boat storage, lockers, training spaces and the clubroom. The secondary volumes contain stairs and support spaces. The second-floor circulation spine runs through the building, linking the parts, and is expressed on the building’s exterior.
The exposed-wood structure of the building is a response to its wooded site. On the landing over the entry, in the clubroom or the erg room looking out toward the landscape, one sees the exposed columns as continuous with the trees beyond. In the trophy room, the structure reaches its full exuberance, stretching up into the space like the boughs of the oaks outside.
Even the colors of the building are drawn from the site: the concrete block relates to the sandy soil, the trim to the brown of tree trunks, the olive siding to leaves and the silver green of the shingles to Spanish moss.

“A jewel box; nicely detailed. Great sense of space.”–2004 jury

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