Steve Tisch Sports and Fitness Center - Tufts University

Medford, Mass.
Construction Cost: $16.6 million
Area / Square Feet: 42,000
Occupancy Date: August 2012

The Steve Tisch Sports and Fitness Center represents the new face of Tufts athletics. It provides critically needed program spaces while connecting the university’s existing athletic buildings with a unified, accessible and secure entrance. The design was also crafted to complement the classic campus architectural style and provide an engaging common area that connects students, faculty, coaches and staff.

Visitors are welcomed by a striking exterior glass facade, which provides transparency into the main fitness room. A projected copper brow defines the form and prominence of the fitness room, main building entrance and team room entrances. The new building is clad in the same brick veneer of the university’s surrounding athletic buildings.

A three-story open atrium offers a sweeping overview of the building’s multilevel design. Full-length skylights allow natural light to flood the space, and a blue and gray custom inlay of Tufts University’s mascot “Jumbo” the elephant graces the floor. From the atrium, visitors can see into the fitness room and multipurpose room on the second floor, film room on the third floor and conference room on the upper level. The atrium’s opposite end provides access to the existing Ames Fitness Center and Hamilton Pool.