CougarPlex Renovation and Addition - Illinois Central College

The new CougarPlex represents Illinois Community College’s goal of providing more amenities to an increasing population of on-campus students.

The design provides a 54,000- quare-foot addition and 9,000-square-foot renovation of the existing gymnasium building. Program areas include a new lobby/entry, café, group exercise rooms, student locker rooms, an exercise equipment area, a jogging track and a three-court gymnasium, as well as administration and athletics support spaces.

The connections to the competition court became the driving idea behind the interior design of the facility. The challenge for the design team was to add a dynamic student fitness center to an existing performance court built in the 1970s. The strategy involved removing a portion of the existing facility and creating a buffer between old and new. A new entrance was created that allows students and spectators attending athletic events to move though the center of the expanded facility, further reinforcing synergies between old and new.

Extensive site improvements include renovations to the baseball and softball fields. Additionally, a new soccer field is located east of the existing gymnasium. The project also includes master planning for an eventual aquatics facility and indoor baseball practice facility.