Located at the southern end of Leo J. Ryan Park, the Foster City Teen Center provides spaces for youth activities and serves as a community gathering place. Program areas include offices, multipurpose event rooms, lounge spaces, and a café/snack bar. The building occupies a prominent location on the City Lagoon adjacent to existing tennis courts to the east and the Recreation/Senior Center to the north. Horizontal massing visually ties it to the Recreation Center while its materials give it a decidedly independent identity.

Its siting provides visual and physical connections to the surroundings by maintaining visual corridors to the water and providing pathways through the site from the park. The mass of the building separates the active recreation uses at the interior of the site – tennis, basketball and skate park – from the public promenade along the lagoon. The building’s large “interior” courtyard faces the lagoon and takes advantage of afternoon sun exposure. Large glazed areas in the public spaces capture views of both passers-by and the water.