Facilities of Merit 2009: Atlantic Health Jets Training Facility

Atlantic Health Jets Training Facility

Florham Park, N.J.

Year in Showcase: 2009

Project Description

The new headquarters for the New York Jets combines a state-of-the-art corporate office with a comprehensive training facility. The massing of the building was among the most significant considerations of the design, with the low, two-story office/training center sited to reduce the perceived size of the 100-foot-high field house. The lower campus building steps down to a one-story height at the playing fields to enclose the central field, as would a stadium bowl.

All primary interaction spaces feature views of the field. Two lines of wooded wetlands enclose the site on the east and west, and decorative fencing and plantings serve to define and screen areas of the site.

To simulate the stadium experience, a coaches’ balcony on the exterior of the building’s second story was created to allow game monitoring and play calling from high angles. All of the practice fields match the solar orientation of the Jets’ new stadium and the interior of the field house has a 95-foot clearance (allowing for punting practice). The training area includes a 12,000-square-foot weight room.

The building is fully networked with state-of-the-art video technology for coaching playback and analysis, high-definition videoconferencing and television broadcasts. A bold program of graphics and signage not only facilitates sponsorship branding but also reinforces key tenets of the coaching lesson plan through large-scale messages and images.

Judges' Comments

Visually powerful entry lobby and main corridor that expresses the striping of the outdoor practice field in the floor pattern and lighting fixtures. Refreshing to see a professional sports team training facility with a timeless, contemporary aesthetic and sophisticated architectural transformation of pre-engineered long-span structures.
— David Dymecki

Love the lights in the main circulation space. They provide an incredible rhythm and character for the building. The overall rigor applied to planning and details is powerful.
— Jack Patton

Possibly the world’s most sophisticated pre-engineered building. The integration of field markings into interior banding/light strips on walls and ceilings is superb.
— Bill Crockett

Project Details

Construction Cost: $75 million

Occupancy: September 2008

Vendors

Flooring: Dal-Tile Corp.

Flooring, Aerobics: Mondo

Hydrotherapy Tank: HydroWorx International Inc.

Scoreboards/Timing Systems: Daktronics Inc.