Facility of Merit Winners To Be Honored at ABC2010

Ten outstanding athletic, recreation and fitness facilities are being honored Friday at the 2010 Athletic Business Conference and Expo in San Diego.

December 2010 Athletic Business - 30th Annual Facilities of Merit

Winners of the 30th Annual Facility of Merit™ awards are:• Bradley University's Markin Family Student Recreation Center• Camelback Ranch - Glendale• Chapman University's Erin J. Lastinger Athletics Complex• Innisfil (Ont.) Recreation Complex• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's East Campus Athletic Village• Richmond (B.C.) Olympic Oval• The Salvation Army Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center - Coeur d'Alene• Texas Christian University's Abe Martin Academic Enhancement Center & Dutch Meyer Athletic Complex• University of California Los Angeles' Spieker Aquatics Center and Dirks Pool• West Vancouver (B.C.) Community Centre

Seven sports and recreation facility architects served on AB's Facility of Merit jury, meeting in Chicago over two days in September to evaluate all 87 entries in the 2010 Architectural Showcase, which were published in the June issue of Athletic Business. Judges assessed each project with regard to several defined criteria, including their plan organization, functionality, transparency, detailing, sustainability and appropriateness to their surroundings. The winners, as always in this competition, demonstrated sound design principles in the larger context, but also sensitivity to smaller, ground-level issues related to the use of these largely public sports and recreation buildings.

Three of the most decorated firms in the competition's history won this year, including Cannon Design, which won its record 20th and 21st awards, Sasaki Associates Inc., which earned its 15th, and Barker Rinker Seacat Architecture, which notched its 12th. Firms rounding out the top five all-time are Hastings & Chivetta Architects (17) and Ellerbe Becket (15).