Southwest Recreation Center receives outstanding sports facilities award

February 9, 2012

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Florida’s Southwest Recreation Center is among nine similar facilities in the U.S. to be recognized by the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association, a pioneer in organized recreation programs for colleges and universities.

The Outstanding Sports Facility award recognizes the collaboration between architects and the university staff to create state-of-the-art environments that attract and motivate people to be active.

“RDG Planning & Design has partnered with UF and Charles Perry Partners Inc. to create, build and open a magnificent facility that will impact the UF community for years to come,” said David Bowles, director of the department of recreational sports, also known as RecSports, which operates the center.

In 1988, the NIRSA began presenting the annual Outstanding Sports Facilities awards for creative, innovative designs of new or expanded facilities. Each winner is considered a standard or model by which other collegiate recreational facilities should be measured and from which others can benefit. The association selects and publishes information on these facilities as a resource for campus master planners, recreational sports directors, designers, architects, contractors and recreational sports students.

The Southwest Recreation Center expansion project opened in August 2010 with 40,755 gross square feet of new space and 45,700 gross square feet of renovated space. The new space features a two-story cardio room, administrative office suite and an activity room. The existing space was renovated to create a training center and a student marketing suite. In addition, corridors, activity rooms, locker rooms, a social lounge, restrooms and the weight room were renovated. Digital signage was installed throughout the facility, enhancing the department’s marketing efforts introducing state-of-the-art graphics that are dynamic and interactive along with reducing the amount of paper usage and clutter throughout the building.

“These exceptional facilities continue to prove that campus recreation facilities are more to students than just a place to work out. They are about finding friends and fun that make the college experience memorable,” said Lexi Chaput, chair of the NIRSA committee that oversees the award process.

Any association member institution with construction projects no more than 2 years old, with a facility with more than 20,000 square feet, and with total construction costs (excluding design and land fees) of at least $2 million is eligible for an Outstanding Sports Facility Award. Each facility is evaluated based on the construction project’s correlation to the campus master plan and mission, the relationship between facility design and staffing, innovative use of construction materials or methods, sustainable features and technological benefits for the customer, staff or budget.