Situated between the administration building and student union, and overlooking the new football stadium to the east, the new Student Recreation Center occupies a key south-facing transitional site on the east edge of the Colorado State University-Pueblo main campus.
With its terraced mass, the design of the recreation center capitalizes on the prominent hillside site as a crossroads of the student life experience and the academic core. The building adjoins the existing Massari Arena to the north, allowing shared use of the natatorium, racquetball courts, training/rehab area and a climbing wall. Its transparent, two-story main entry offers a panoramic view of the Front Range and Pikes Peak, while the triple-height volume of the atrium allows visitors and users to experience the building’s energetic, community-oriented feel.
Daylight filters through clerestories into the main gymnasium, the elevated running track that circulates through the atrium, the fitness center and multipurpose rooms. In addition to its recreation offerings, the center provides a health, wellness and nutritional suite, a lounge/café with a south-facing exterior terrace and an outdoor pursuits program and equipment rental space.
A simplified materials palette of precast concrete, glazing and a water-table course of cast-in-place concrete provides the campus with a neutral mix of exterior materials that complement the clean, modern buildings rising out of the natural, arid Pueblo landscape.
Cassie Campbell Community Centre
