While providing much-needed services to a marginalized community in Newark, the Training Recreation Education Center (TREC) also demonstrates design excellence on a budget. The $11 million facility, which opened in November 2016, was commissioned by the Newark Housing Authority for the city’s South Ward and designed by Princeton, New Jersey–based Ikon 5 Architects. The goal was to give the area’s low-income families more economic opportunities by providing easily accessible job training and continuing-education classes. To increase the center’s gravitational pull, recreation and fitness were also part of the brief. The resulting 24,000-square-foot building includes a regulation-size basketball court, a community meeting room and kitchen, classrooms, and a daycare center.