The celebration of California Baptist University’s baseball and softball programs starts on the street outside the teams’ clubhouse. A fire lane stretches alongside the third-base lines of both playing fields on the CBU campus in Riverside, allowing the varying facades of the clubhouse to offer a retail experience for fans making their way to games from nearby parking lots. Four windows grouped in a metal-sided facade offer a look inside the Lancers’ operations, with static, backlit fabric banners depicting athletes in both sports positioned above high-definition screens programmed to display upcoming schedule information, that day’s starting lineups, real-time statistics and actual live game video. The large arched window on an adjacent facade echoes existing campus architecture while providing a peek at the clubhouse lobby, where a perforated aluminum LED wall panel system, manufactured by Arktura, elevates CBU trophies high enough to be seen by pedestrians from the outside. According to Thomas Riggle of Riverside-based TR Design Group, inspiration for the public-facing programmable screen displays came from academic buildings on campus that communicate information to students in similar fashion. Moreover, incorporating that kind of dynamic visual connection within the building exterior added little cost to the clubhouse project, given the 500-millimeter corrugated metal used to surround the four windowpanes. “It’s not an expensive product by any means, it’s certainly an easy detail, and I like the contrast of it — especially with their CBU logo. I think it looks very collegiate,” Riggle says. “I thought it was fun and added another element to the building in a place that highlights the players, as well as showcases the university’s programs.”
