Situated at a campus crossroads, the Tsai Commons and Field House project renovated the Lawrenceville School’s historic field house and included construction that introduces new dining, recreation and athletic venues for the campus community. These spaces include the dining hall, an eight-lane swimming pool, an ice rink, basketball courts and multipurpose fitness rooms — along with spacious back-of-house and locker room facilities.
Unlike traditional recreation structures that tend to be large, imposing and uninterrupted horizontal volumes, the new Tsai Commons and Field House maintains the scale and material palette reflective of surrounding structures. Large venues such as the swimming pool, ice rink and basketball courts are tucked into the sloping topography, leaving the upper f loor as a concourse level for user and spectator visibility into the venues below.
The new facility’s fillet-curved profile echoes the frame of the original field house, giving the building its special character by joining two straight sections with a curved peak. The simple concave ceilings create a profile that allows lateral light through the clerestories at the dining hall, brings volume to the pool and ice rink, and articulates the facility’s design into a series of distinct, interconnected pavilions. Intuitive circulation is marked by warm wooden materials across floors, ceilings and walls. A new courtyard provides opportunities for outdoor programming.
The Tsai Commons and Field House design and program greatly impact everyday campus life, and the facility has become a daily destination for students to meet, socialize and participate in recreational activities.
Architect of Record
Sasaki
Boston, Mass.
Suppliers
Victory Capital Performance Center
