Parker Performance Institute in Frisco, Texas, is billed as a first-of-its-kind sports and rehabilitation clinic where students, specialized clinicians, and chiropractic professionals apply neuroscience to physical rehabilitation. Offering high-tech, cutting-edge treatment, the facility combines the vibrant atmosphere of a training gym with the healing qualities of a spa.
The building is organized into two zones, each with a distinct character. The Open Performance Zone is a high-energy space embodying athleticism and vigor with dark metal accents, turf, digital displays, and a sense of expansiveness despite a relatively small, elongated space. Designers used mirrors, exposed structural components, and natural light to animate this half of the interior. This space emphasizes cutting-edge technology.
The interior is composed of healing and massage rooms, with bright tones and indirect, color-changing circadian lighting that is customizable for patients, offering a soothing retreat. The facility provides intuitive navigation with a continuous light running above the core circulation path that is defined by a detailed feature wall.
These features mark the transition from the communal, highly visible training area to the zone of private care. A pattern of wood slats along the wall—also incorporating metal mesh and steel trim—creates a warm material rhythm that guides patients through the full length of the space. Branching off the main path are clean, bright pods of exam rooms with neurological and visual equipment used for light therapy, vertigo treatment, and specialized treatments for PTSD patients.
Parker Performance uses advanced tools not commonly available in clinics, from dynamic posturography and virtual reality to 3D diagnostics. The design balances this tech-forward environment with human touches, not losing sight of the emotional side of performance and recovery.
Light is strategically layered throughout to ground the experience as you walk through the building. Tall windows pull sun into the open athletic zone and translucent materials transmit natural light deeper into the space offering privacy without losing the glow of daylight.
On the team:
Owner and/or developer: Parker University
Design architect: Perkins&Will
Architect of record: Perkins&Will
MEP engineer: Purdy-McGuire
General contractor/construction manager: Skiles Group
Related Stories
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Contractors [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Turner, Whiting-Turner, Skanska top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest contractors in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
Engineering firms look to bolster growth through new services, technology [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Following solid revenue growth in 2013, the majority of U.S.-based engineering and engineering/architecture firms expect more of the same this year, according to BD+C’s 2014 Giants 300 report.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Engineering/Architecture Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Jacobs, AECOM, Parsons Brinckerhoff top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest engineering/architecture firms in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Engineering Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Fluor, Arup, Day & Zimmermann top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest engineering firms in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Architecture Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Gensler, Perkins+Will, NBBJ top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest architecture firms in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
2014 Giants 300 Report
Building Design+Construction magazine's annual ranking the nation's largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S.
| Jul 17, 2014
A new, vibrant waterfront for the capital
Plans to improve Washington D.C.'s Potomac River waterfront by Maine Ave. have been discussed for years. Finally, The Wharf has started its first phase of construction.
| Jul 8, 2014
Does Zaha Hadid’s Tokyo Olympic Stadium have a design flaw?
After being criticized for the cost and size of her stadium design for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, a Japanese architect points out a major design flaw in the stadium that may endanger the spectators.
| Jul 8, 2014
Frank Lloyd Wright's posthumous gas station opens in Buffalo
Eighty-seven years after Frank Lloyd Wright designed an ornamental gas station for the city of Buffalo, the structure has been built and opened to the public—inside an auto museum.
| Jul 7, 2014
7 emerging design trends in brick buildings
From wild architectural shapes to unique color blends and pattern arrangements, these projects demonstrate the design possibilities of brick.
