El Pomar Sports Center Renovation and Addition - Colorado College

Built in 1970, the El Pomar Sports Center served Colorado College’s varsity athletics programs with little accommodation for the general student population. A dynamic new addition enhances varsity facilities with centralized strength training and physical therapy, while providing much-needed fitness and wellness amenities for all students.

The main south entry affords immediate adjacency to an athlete’s lounge, public restrooms and the Great Hall, which serves the dual purpose of providing a circulation spine to all three buildings, as well as displaying the history and memorabilia of Colorado College athletics. The coaching and athletics staff offices, previously scattered over several areas, are now under one roof in the new curved addition on the south end. 

The varsity locker, training and weight rooms are all housed in a separate wing of the athletic center. General student cardio and weight training amenities are located along the boundary of Washburn Field, accessed via a secondary control point strategically placed to afford easy access to student housing and the campus itself. 

Rather than fight the existing curvature surrounding Washburn Field, as well as a similarly curved roadway in front of the center, designers nestled resistance training and a regulation court into an unused hillside and let the curvature inform the exterior wall planes. The result translated into gently arced locker rooms and outward-facing cardio and yoga rooms bounded by similarly curving viewing balconies.