On September 29 of last year, the University of Pittsburgh broke ground at its Oakland campus on a new Recreation and Wellness Center, a $255 million project whose 270,000 square feet will spread over nine stories, making this the tallest building of its kind in the U.S. when it opens in the fall of 2024.
Around the same time of the groundbreaking, Michigan State University in East Lansing was moving forward on its plans for a three-story 300,000-sf Health and Wellness Center that is scheduled to open in 2025, and whose design and programming were informed by focus groups with students.
The common thread connecting these projects is their design architect, Columbus, Ohio-based Moody Nolan, which celebrates its 40th anniversary last year. Over the past quarter-century, Moody Nolan has become one of the industry’s leading specialists in the creation of collegiate recreation facilities, according to Campus Rec magazine. The firm’s signature in this typology is designing rec centers to be campus destinations.
As such, Moody Nolan has had a ringside seat to watch how demand for rec centers has evolved to incorporate user well-being. “Our clients aren’t only concerned about physical space, but are also asking ‘why’ about these projects,” says Troy Sherrard, FAIA, a Partner and Sports + Recreation Practice Design Leader, who has been with the firm for 20 years. Consequently, he continues, more clients are requesting “hybrid environments” that “build habits” for health and wellness in students.
Shared spaces a priority for recreation centers
Sherrard says that certain “traditional” spaces, like athletic fields and courts, and even aquatic amenities, are still must haves in rec centers. On the other hand, Moody Nolan has seen less demand lately for racquet sports spaces, and more demand for “shared spaces,” such as turf gyms within fieldhouses, and climbing and bouldering options. Clients also want multipurpose rooms for activities that range from “high energy to mediation,” says Sherrard, who spoke with BD+C last week.
He points specifically to the 101,000-sf, $30 million rec center at Jacksonville State University in Alabama, which opened in January 2019. Sherrard says prior to that opening, fitness and wellness were not prevalent concerns for most rural southern schools. Jacksonville State, conversely, saw the new rec center—which would have the largest footprint of any building on its campus—as one of its “anchors.”
The building’s highlights, says Sherrard, feature a 43-ft-tall outdoor climbing wall, social engagement spaces that include a campus “living room,” and an outdoor “adventure” component for biking and walking. Sherrard adds that rec centers need to be immersive, which in Jacksonville State’s case meant telling a design story through branding “to root the student in a sense of place.” (He notes that anyone walking into this rec center can see most of its rooms at first glance.)
How recreation centers can reinforce student health
After Jacksonville State opened its rec center, its enrollment for the next fall semester jumped by 6 percent. (The school’s full- and parttime enrollment for the fall of 2022 was 9,633, compared to 7,696 in the spring of 2018.)
Other campuses around the country flaunt their recreational and athletic facilities as recruitment bait. “That always comes up, and without [a rec center] there’s a void,” says Sherrard. He points out that Penn State University’s rec center (designed by his firm) is across the street from the college’s Admissions building, so the rec center is the first thing prospective and incoming students and their parents see, accentuating the college’s commitment to health and wellness.
Appealing to student needs is at the forefront of rec center design and operations, says Sherrard. Moody Nolan’s focus groups for the Michigan State University project (for which Rossetti is the AOR) revealed two desired trends that became key design drivers: biophilia and what Sherrard calls “zones for discovery.”
This rec center’s design is created around a courtyard. According to MSU, the building’s front façade opens to an outdoor greenspace with “large spans of glass for natural daylight and ventilation, allowing for integrated indoor-outdoor functional fitness experiences.”
Each floor of Pitt’s Recreation and Wellness center will have a different emphasis: dining, free weights, swimming and aquatic exercise, a gym, a jogging track, a multipurpose room, etc. The building itself, built into an 85-ft hillside, will connect Pitt’s upper and lower campuses. Also built into the hillside will be a 160-step “Panther Run,” that includes an outdoor platform halfway up for fitness classes.
Given its verticality, Pitt’s Recreation and Wellness center “could be a game changer” for urban-situated rec centers, says Sherrard.
Related Stories
Adaptive Reuse | Dec 21, 2022
University of Pittsburgh reinvents century-old Model-T building as a life sciences research facility
After opening earlier this year, The Assembly recently achieved LEED Gold certification, aligning with the school’s and community’s larger sustainability efforts.
Sponsored | Resiliency | Dec 14, 2022
Flood protection: What building owners need to know to protect their properties
This course from Walter P Moore examines numerous flood protection approaches and building owner needs before delving into the flood protection process. Determining the flood resilience of a property can provide a good understanding of risk associated costs.
HVAC | Dec 13, 2022
Energy Management Institute launches online tool to connect building owners with HVAC contractors
The National Energy Management Institute Inc. (NEMI) along with the Biden administration’s Better Air in Buildings website have rolled out a resource to help building owners and managers, school districts, and other officials find HVAC contractors.
Student Housing | Dec 7, 2022
Cornell University builds massive student housing complex to accommodate planned enrollment growth
In Ithaca, N.Y., Cornell University has completed its North Campus Residential Expansion (NCRE) project. Designed by ikon.5 architects, the 776,000-sf project provides 1,200 beds for first-year students and 800 beds for sophomore students. The NCRE project aimed to accommodate the university’s planned growth in student enrollment while meeting its green infrastructure standards. Cornell University plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2035.
University Buildings | Dec 5, 2022
Florida Polytechnic University unveils its Applied Research Center, furthering its mission to provide STEM education
In Lakeland, Fla., located between Orlando and Tampa, Florida Polytechnic University unveiled its new Applied Research Center (ARC). Designed by HOK and built by Skanska, the 90,000-sf academic building houses research and teaching laboratories, student design spaces, conference rooms, and faculty offices—furthering the school’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) mission.
Education Facilities | Nov 30, 2022
10 ways to achieve therapeutic learning environments
Today’s school should be much more than a place to learn—it should be a nurturing setting that celebrates achievements and responds to the challenges of many different users.
K-12 Schools | Nov 30, 2022
School districts are prioritizing federal funds for air filtration, HVAC upgrades
U.S. school districts are widely planning to use funds from last year’s American Rescue Plan (ARP) to upgrade or improve air filtration and heating/cooling systems, according to a report from the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council. The report, “School Facilities Funding in the Pandemic,” says air filtration and HVAC upgrades are the top facility improvement choice for the 5,004 school districts included in the analysis.
University Buildings | Nov 13, 2022
University of Washington opens mass timber business school building
Founders Hall at the University of Washington Foster School of Business, the first mass timber building at Seattle campus of Univ. of Washington, was recently completed. The 84,800-sf building creates a new hub for community, entrepreneurship, and innovation, according the project’s design architect LMN Architects.
University Buildings | Nov 2, 2022
New Univ. of Calif. Riverside business school building will support hybrid learning
A design-build partnership of Moore Ruble Yudell and McCarthy Building Companies will collaborate on a new business school building at the University of California at Riverside.
K-12 Schools | Nov 1, 2022
Safety is the abiding design priority for K-12 schools
With some exceptions, architecture, engineering, and construction firms say renovations and adaptive reuse make up the bulk of their work in the K-12 schools sector.