Trinity College - Koeppel Community Sports Center

Hartford, CT
Construction Cost: $12.6 million
Area / Square Feet: 55,000
Occupancy Date: November 2006

Lauded by the panel for its attractiveness, simplicity and costeffectiveness, Trinity College?s Koeppel Community Sports Center enhances both the college and its urban surroundings. Offering space for varsity sports programs and Hartford?s community recreation needs, the building?s form is achieved by cladding a traditional pre-engineered structure with customdesigned facades along the two street elevations. Asymmetrical, with a graceful yet dynamic roofline, the facility features a fine texture of corrugated skin that echoes the clapboard siding used in most of the neighboring residential buildings. Small inserts of wood paneling at each entrance bring a touch of warmth and signal points of entry. The glassy facade was designed to bring daylight into the lobby and the skating area beyond, while bright colors were selected for gypsum and concrete block walls and benches to warm up the rink and provide the sense of an always-populated space.

Its designers, said one panelist, "should be commended for taking a simple program and elevating its architecture and surrounding context to a higher level."

Judge's Comments

The building uses the minimum of moves to offer the community and college a highly usable facility.
— James Meyer

While most ice sheets in a pre-engineered metal building aren't much to look at, the Koeppel Center is both cost effective and stands out for its simple detailing.
— Erik Kocher

The exterior treatment provides an interesting change to the pre-engineered box.
— Tom Scarlata