Roberts Recreation center is the first two-story, inter-generationally focused building in the city of St. Petersburg. This unique facility masks generational boundaries and provides interactive spaces which heed to youth and adults alike. This park and recreation center has become a prized amenity for this part of the city.

The building’s design sought to illustrate the relationship between the two generational groups through its use of material and spatial interaction. The youth programs use of white plaster is to symbolize the innocence and malleability of younger generations while the adult center programs use Zinc cladding to symbolize the refined nature of the adults. The use of Zinc will also change over time as it oxidizes, becoming a deeper grey. Its value and beauty only increases with time – a metaphor for aging. The one place where the Zinc and plaster join is the lobby; the two materials embrace the space where youth and adults interact.