In January, design firm Populous and the City of Aurora, Colo. marked the opening of the Southeast Aurora Recreation Center and Fieldhouse. The 77,000-sf facility draws design inspiration from the nearby Rocky Mountains.
With natural Douglas Fir structure and decking, the building aims to mimic the geography of a canyon. The large open entryway spans the length of the building and offers expansive mountain views through a glass curtainwall. The glass walls also provide light and visibility into various areas such as the basketball courts.
Populous designed the facility, including the city’s first indoor field house, to respect the site while also meeting the project requirements of operational efficiency, cost-effective design, and the community’s betterment.
“This new recreation center and field house stands apart as a breathtaking example of a community asset that is built to reflect, benefit, and showcase its people and its landscape,” Gudmundur Jonsson, senior architect and principal at Populous, said in a statement. “The City of Aurora now has another cost-effective and operationally efficient space that will allow it to further serve its community.”
An elevated running track extends from inside the gym out into the entryway and along the curtainwall, evoking a mountain trail. The fitness area includes a 3,000-sf patio and a garage door opening to outdoor training areas. In addition to the gym, track, and other outdoor fitness areas, the recreation center includes community spaces, volleyball courts, pickleball courts, pools, and a 20-foot-tall waterslide that runs 152 feet long.
The $41.9 million project is the second ground-up recreation center constructed for Aurora in over four decades. Populous also led the design of Aurora’s Central Recreation Center.
On the Building Team:
Owner: City of Aurora Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Department
Design architect and architect of record: Populous
MEP engineers: The Ballard Group, Innovative Electrical Systems
Structural engineer: Martin Martin
General contractor/construction manager: Saunders Construction
Related Stories
| Nov 18, 2014
Fan of the High Line? Check out NYC's next public park plan (hint: it floats)
Backed by billionaire Barry Diller, the $170 million "floating park" is planned for the Hudson River, and will contain wooded areas and three performance venues.
| Nov 6, 2014
Studio Gang Architects will convert power plant into college recreation center
The century-old power plant will be converted into a recreation facility with a coffee shop, lounges, club rooms, a conference center, lecture hall, and theater, according to designboom.
Sponsored | | Nov 5, 2014
Welcome to sports central
The Fieldhouse Sportscenter in Springfield, Mo., serves as a community center for basketball and volleyball leagues and tournaments.
| Oct 30, 2014
New hotel to be developed at future Dallas Cowboys World Headquarters
The Omni property will be one of the only full-service upscale hotels in the area, and serve as a cornerstone of the mixed-use development, which will be anchored by the Dallas Cowboys World Headquarters and Frisco’s Multi-Use Event Center.
| Oct 20, 2014
Singapore Sports Hub claims world's largest free-spanning dome
The retractable roof, which measures a whopping 1,017-feet across, is made from translucent ETFE plastic panels supported with metal rigging that arches over the main pitch.
| Oct 16, 2014
Perkins+Will white paper examines alternatives to flame retardant building materials
The white paper includes a list of 193 flame retardants, including 29 discovered in building and household products, 50 found in the indoor environment, and 33 in human blood, milk, and tissues.
| Oct 15, 2014
Harvard launches ‘design-centric’ center for green buildings and cities
The impetus behind Harvard's Center for Green Buildings and Cities is what the design school’s dean, Mohsen Mostafavi, describes as a “rapidly urbanizing global economy,” in which cities are building new structures “on a massive scale.”
| Oct 12, 2014
AIA 2030 commitment: Five years on, are we any closer to net-zero?
This year marks the fifth anniversary of the American Institute of Architects’ effort to have architecture firms voluntarily pledge net-zero energy design for all their buildings by 2030.
| Sep 24, 2014
Architecture billings see continued strength, led by institutional sector
On the heels of recording its strongest pace of growth since 2007, there continues to be an increasing level of demand for design services signaled in the latest Architecture Billings Index.
