University of Alabama, Birmingham - Campus Recreation Center

Birmingham, AL
Construction Cost: $21.3 million
Area / Square Feet: 152,275
Occupancy Date: May 2005

The Campus Recreation Center at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, is designed to serve as a vibrant activity hub for the UAB campus community. The facility is also the cornerstone of a future campus green, complementing the urban university?s commitment to becoming a more traditional, residential campus. The center allows existing programs to grow, while allowing for creation of aquatics, wellness and informal recreation offerings.

Upon entering the center, sightlines allow views into virtually every activity space. The facility boasts 18,000 square feet dedicated to weight training and cardio fitness; a four-court, wood-floor gymnasium; a separate synthetic-floor gymnasium; five racquetball courts (with one convertible to squash); four fitness studios; and an aquatics center with both leisure and lap components. Other amenities include a game room, a child-care area, a juice bar and a wellness suite.

As one defining architectural feature of the building, an indoor jogging track passes through every major activity space. It penetrates the north and west facades, affording joggers views of the surrounding campus context and even the mountains bracketing the city to the south. The second defining architectural element is a climbing wall, expressed as a tower at the northwest corner of the building. Finally, exterior glazing is employed to reveal activity inside the building and to animate the campus surroundings.