Ed Davis Community Center

LOCATION: Akron, OH

CLIENT: Department of Public Service

Located next to the Akron Zoo and Perkins Woods Park, the Ed Davis Community Center project was a collaboration between Behnke Landscape Architecture and PRIME AE. Our work began with a detailed site assessment completed alongside planned building renovations.

This much-loved community center was in need of a new, larger gymnasium, more usable spaces, and expanded parking. The site redesign presented several grading challenges, yet also created a unique opportunity to take an existing building hidden by the site and open up the space to a soon to be renovated building.

In this new setting, we designed an engaging play area featuring rock walls, hill slides, terraced seating, and climbing elements, all visible from gathering spaces to help parents and children feel connected and safe. Additional parking was carefully integrated into the site while preserving as many of the mature canopy trees as possible.