After a year-and-a-half of construction, the revamp of the Rancho Cienega Sports Complex is beginning to take shape in Baldwin Hills.
The City of Los Angeles, which owns the 29-acre park at 5001 Obama Boulevard, is spending millions to add new recreational amenities to the site. New prefabricated structures now rising at the complex will house a swimming facility, a basketball gymnasium, and a raised walking path. Plans also call for an enclosed garden and new seating areas for the park's existing tennis center.
The design for the park - which comes from a team consisting of SPF:architects, Hood Design Studio, and engineer Buro Happold - emphasizes natural lighting and ventilation. Plans also call for a rooftop solar array and drought-tolerant landscaping.
Construction will be completed in multiple phases.
Following completion of construction, Rancho Cienega is poised to be renamed as the Michelle and Barack Obama Sports Complex in honor of the 44th President of the United States and his wife. Obama held his first Los Angeles area campaign rally at the park in 2007.
The adjoining street, formerly known as Rodeo Road, was also renamed in honor of Obama last year.
