Located on the University of Mississippi’s south campus, the South Campus Recreation Facility and Transportation Hub pioneers the university’s plans for future growth across the highway from main campus by serving as an iconic anchor project that the school hopes will inspire and set the architectural precedent for the next several decades of campus growth.
The project converts an abandoned Whirlpool manufacturing plant — and the adjacent vacant lot that was only used for parking on game days — into a high-energy, expansive new fitness space that provides opportunities that were not available at the current recreation center. The project has transformed student life and increased engagement with campus recreation through a newly reimagined space that boldly embraces fitness, wellness and a connection to nature.
The project features more than 22,300 square feet of open fitness space, 6,250 square feet of indoor and outdoor functional training, two basketball courts, a multipurpose activity court, three multipurpose studios, a jogging track, climbing and bouldering walls, a demonstration kitchen and wellness suite, outdoor recreation and administrative suites and two recreational fields for intramural use directly adjacent to the building.
Since the facility has opened, visits to the campus recreation facilities increased by more than 70 percent, with nearly two-thirds of all recreation facility visits occurring at the South Campus Recreation Center. There has also been a 30 percent year-to-year increase in community and alumni memberships. Since opening, the project has broken departmental records for participant visits in a single day, a single week and a single month.
