Designed by Cannon Design, the expansion of the University of California Riverside (UCR) Recreation Center will provide additional fitness and activity spaces integrating with the existing building and site creating a unified recreation complex. Located at the north boundary of the main campus within the natural Arroyo Zone, the design also includes views to the Box Springs Mountains to the east. The building is scheduled to open in 2014. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The configuration of the addition will allow continued access to an existing Arena from both the East and West while still providing a meaningful conditioned connection to the existing building. The massing of the building is characterized by a robust second floor “bridge” connection to the existing Recreation Center with the majority of fitness components raised to the second level to provide views of the pool to the south and the mountains to the east.
The undulating second floor plan is a open and contiguous space with a variety of view orientations and large visual connections to the lower level. The smaller ground floor will garner extensive shading from the larger upper level, and will feature open glazed fitness areas loosely defined by the enclosed masonry volumes of a new MAC gym and a circular locker room.
UC Riverside’s blend brick, a campus requirement, will be featured prominently on the opaque volumes at the ground level. The upper level will be clad in a combination of storefront glazing and metal panels and will feature vertical screening devices and overhangs used in various combinations and proportions to provide sun protection for the multiple solar orientations of the undulating façade.
Architects: Cannon Design Location: University of California Riverside, California, United States Project Principal: Martha Ball Project Manager: Jenny Delgado Campus Life Principal: Craig Hamilton Design Leader: Carl Hampson Project Architect: Larry Taniguchi Project Designer: John Son Interior Designer: Jack Poulin Design Team: Erick Toss, Kevin Choi, Hong Gip Structural Engineer: Saiful/Bouquet Plumbing: P2S Engineering Aquatic Design: Counsilman/Hunsaker & Associates Landscape: Carter Romanek Civil: Breen Engineering Lighting: Cannon Design Expected Completion: 2014