| This project is located at a mid-size liberal arts college that desired an “iconic” new athletic and events center that would welcome the entire campus community and accommodate all sorts of events and activities – from varsity basketball games and school convocations to presidential debates and musical performances. The 144,000 sf structure includes an Arena that holds 2,000 people, a Recreation Gym for intramural sports, an 8,000 sf Fitness Center, two Fitness Studios, Weight Room, Sports Medicine Facility, Locker Rooms for 10 Varsity teams, Offices for the Athletic Department and Recreation personnel, Lobby, and various support spaces.
Design Solution:
Form: We developed a compact, sculptural, even athletic form that nevertheless took its cues from the program and the tightly bounded site – addressing the main part of campus with its angled entry, scaling down and opening up to the existing pool and views of the mountains to the north, anchoring the track and football field to the east, creating a new campus entry at the intersection of Sixth Street and Mills Ave to the south, and providing a dynamic, articulated façade on the west.
Social Nexus: We knew from the beginning that this building would become a new social nexus on campus – that students would want to study, hang out, and socialize here – so we incorporated wide hallways, terraces, and various kinds of nooks and perches that students could claim and use as they see fit.
Character Wall: The lobby and circulation spaces were also intentionally designed without the kinds of conventional design features that scream “Athletics!” Inspired by Jasper Johns’ “Number Paintings” of the 60’s, we conceived of and designed the double-height Lobby wall with letters and characters from a variety of languages to suggest the global outlook of the College, as well as the open, creative, puzzle-like search of all academic and research ventures.
Transparency: A generous amount of skylights and glazing on the building’s exterior activates interior spaces with natural light and supports visual connections between the interior and exterior of the building. It is inside the structure, however, that the level of connectivity is notched way up: Glass walls between all types of spaces create a synergistic, communal environment for the facility’s users, whether they are coaches, varsity athletes, faculty in for their daily workout, or students using it for individual or group study. At ground level, the entire Arena is surrounded by a “ring of glass.” In several locations, it is possible to look through the entire building - from Mills Ave on the west side, all the way to the track; or from the Athletic Department on the second floor on the south side, completely through to the pool on the north. These kinds of unexpected views create a level of surprise and delight that are unusual for a building of this type, providing nourishment for the mind and spirit, as well as the body.
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