Cleveland State University Recreation Center

Cleveland, OH
Construction Cost: $29.8 million
Area / Square Feet: 130,000
Occupancy Date: August 2006

The goal for the design of this recreation center was to create a “building without walls,” one that gives people inside and out views of activity and counteracts the perception that the campus is composed of unwelcoming concrete buildings. The center now serves as a catalyst for a renewed focus on student life.

The interior design hinges on an open circulation atrium that allows natural daylight to penetrate all levels of the facility while providing views between activity spaces, and from one side of the building to the other. The building connects to an existing athletic facility on an urban site, and the open atrium enhances both circulation and security.

Daylight filters into the main gymnasium, elevated running track, multipurpose court, multipurpose rooms and connective free zones through several skylights, roof monitors and clerestories.

The exterior massing is broken into components and responds to the pedestrian and vehicular scales of the campus and the streetscape. Exterior materials consist of red brick, buff brick, aluminum panels and trim with clear and fritted glass.