Louisville, Kentucky
The new Student Recreation Facility supports one of UofL’s core mission objectives: to recruit and retain the best students. The program includes six new gyms, a Multi-Purpose Court (MAC), fitness and weight space, aerobics and wellness studios, a jogging track, four racquetball courts, a sport club, fitness lab, PE classrooms, locker rooms, equipment rooms, administration, healthy foods service, and support spaces. Designed in partnership with Cannon Design, the design approach reinforces socialization by creating spaces that are visually open to one another and by volumetrically overlapping various activity zones, both horizontally and vertically. Multipurpose fitness spaces are configured to accommodate the latest trends in group exercise such as aerobics, dance, yoga, Tai Chi, Zumba, martial arts, spinning, etc. In addition to traditional basketball and volleyball, the MAC plays host to a variety of activities including indoor soccer, roller or field hockey, and badminton. The new SRC is LEED Gold certified. Sustainable strategies include use of a geothermal well field and solar panels to power the heat pump water heating system, generous use of natural daylighting, and rainwater harvesting.