In Flagstaff, Ariz. Northern Arizona University (NAU) has opened its new Student-Athlete High Performance Center.
Designed by DLR Group and built by CORE Construction, the $46 million, 72,000-square-foot training center significantly increases the academic, weight training, recovery, and nutrition space available to Lumberjack student athletes. The facility sits on a hillside with views of Humphreys Peak, the highest point in Arizona.
To enter the building, visitors cross a 140-foot walking bridge that begins at the base of the tree line and elevates 20 feet before reaching the entry. This design choice allowed DLR Group to leave the site as untouched as possible.
“The iconic Parsons Family Auditorium undeniably features one of the best views of any training facility in the country, sitting above the tree line with a 60’ by 40’ glass wall that frames unobstructed views of the 12,600-foot Humphreys Peak and the San Francisco Range,” Andrew Kelly, sports design leader, DLR Group, said in a statement.
Other features include the country’s largest high-altitude training chamber on a college campus. It can simulate atmospheric conditions ranging from sea level to 12,000 feet, allowing student athletes to train at higher elevations and recover faster at sea level.
The Scott and Franci Free Academic Center—which increases dedicated academic space from 700 square feet to more than 7,000 square feet—offers individual study areas, three classrooms, a computer lab, and academic staff offices.
The Jennifer Marie Wilson Strength and Conditioning Center more than doubles the size of the Lumberjacks’ weight training area to 11,500 square feet. And the Michael E. Nesbitt Athletic Training Center features three hydrotherapy recovery pools.
In addition, NAU athletics programs are partnering with the University’s College of Health and Human Services to conduct research on student athletes in the Sims-Treharne Collaborative Research Lab.
On the team:
Owner and/or developer: Northern Arizona University
Design architect and architect of record: DLR Group
MEP and structural engineers: DLR Group
Civil engineer: Shephard-Wesnitzer, Inc.
Landscape architect: Norris Design
General contractor/construction manager: CORE Construction
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Burr Elementary School
In planning the Burr Elementary School in Fairfield, Conn., the school's building committee heeded the words of William Wordsworth: Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher. They selected construction manager Turner Construction Company, New York, and the New York office of A/E firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill to integrate nature on the heavily wooded 15.
| Aug 11, 2010
Bronze Award: Trenton Daylight/Twilight High School Trenton, N.J.
The story of the Trenton Daylight/Twilight High School is one of renewal and rebirth—both of the classic buildings that symbolize the city's past and the youth that represent its future. The $39 million, 101,000-sf urban infill project locates the high school—which serves recent dropouts and students who are at risk of dropping out—within three existing vacant buildings.
| Aug 11, 2010
New school designs don't go by the book
America needs more schools. Forty-five percent of the nation's elementary, middle, and high schools were built between 1950 and 1969, according market research firm ZweigWhite, Natick, Mass. Yet even as the stock of K-12 schools ages and declines, school enrollments continue to climb. The National Center for Education Statistics predicts that enrollment in public K-12 schools will keep rising...
| Aug 11, 2010
Bronze Award: Lincoln High School Tacoma, Wash.
Lincoln High School in Tacoma, Wash., was built in 1913 and spent nearly a century morphing into a patchwork of outdated and confusing additions. A few years ago, the Tacoma School District picked Lincoln High School, dubbed “Old Main,” to be the first high school in the district to be part of its newly launched Small Learning Communities program.
| Aug 11, 2010
Bronze Award: Hawthorne Elementary School, Elmhurst, Ill.
At 121 years, Hawthorne School is the oldest elementary school building in the Elmhurst, Ill., school district and a source of pride for the community. Unfortunately, decades of modifications and short-sighted planning had rendered it dysfunctional in terms of modern educational delivery. At the same time, increasing enrollment was leading to overcrowding, with the result that the library, for ...