2000 Baltimore AIA Design Awards
Printed in The Daily Record October 18, 2000

Cho Benn Holback + Associates had the task of designing Baltimore County’s first mixed-use community complex, the Fleming Community Center, that would be appropriate for a senior center, Head Start classrooms and a recreation and park facility. “The challenge was to provide unique enough spaces for each of these and give a sense of a unified community space,” said associate Brian Oster of the project in Turners Station. The solution was to focus on public corridors and community spaces, he said. For example, although the senior center closes before the recreational gym, its lobby will be open to the public. To avoid a “big box” look for the gym and its visual domination of the site, the Baltimore architecture firm designed the senior center and the library to wrap around the 35-foot-tall gym, he said. The jurors were impressed. “The scale has been skillfully articulated to redefine the architectural elements and alleviate the ‘big box’ issue,” they said.