C.J. Huang Recreation Center | Central Connecticut State University 

Sasaki was selected to program, plan and design a new recreation facility as an addition to the Central Connecticut State’s existing 1970s-era sports facility, where recreational space was nominal and often competing with the needs of the athletic department. The new addition provides dedicated recreation space for the university’s 12,000 students and staff.

The program includes a three-court gym, an elevated running track, weights and fitness space, group exercise rooms and recreation administration space. A large VIP viewing room, which is used on game days, connects back to a competition basketball arena. The inclusion of the VIP space and access through the building — which completes an important connection between the athletic fields and the heart of campus — required an innovative solution to the entry experience, while providing membership access to the recreation facility.

Access to the recreation center portion of the building needs to be separate and controlled while maintaining the use of the existing building. To achieve this, the new annex program was disengaged from the existing Kaiser Hall. The design team only lightly touched the existing massing with a two-story glazed vestibule, which allowed for free passage through the new connector. This separation allowed for the new recreation center to integrate a concealed overhead coiling door, which provides the ability to control access to the recreation center while the rest of the complex stays open.

The final design was carefully considered to allow for the majority of new construction to be completed from the exterior of the existing building. This required only a narrow area of the existing court space to be temporarily enclosed during construction, without impacting use of the space.

ARCHITECT OF RECORD

Sasaki

Watertown, Mass.

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