Kenyon Athletic Center

Gund Partnership organizes a massive athletics program and de facto student center under one roof, giving the space an open and airy feel.

By James Murdock
This is an excerpt of an article from the November 2007 edition of Architectural Record.

The varsity men’s swim team—called the Lords—of Kenyon College, in Gambier, Ohio, has won the Division III championship for 28 consecutive years—a record unmatched by any team in the history of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The Ladies, the women’s team, also boasts an impressive history, with 21 championship wins in 24 years. But during most of their dynasty, these and Kenyon’s 20 other varsity teams practiced in facilities that were far from regal: the Ernest Center, a windowless structure completed in 1980.

With Ernst showing its two decades of heavy use, Kenyon began planning a new Athletic Center in 2001. People often assumed that varsity athletics dominated this building’s program, admits Doug Zipp, Kenyon’s associate director of athletics for facilities and operations, but the needs of intramural teams and recreational users were just as valued. A new natatorium was obviously on the brief, along with an indoor track for field sports and batting practice; an arena for basketball and volleyball; and courts for tennis, squash, and racquetball. But so was a court reserved solely for recreational basketball and soccer players, as well as a 12,000-square-foot weights-and-fitness room. Since the building is also intended as something of a student center for Kenyon, which lacks a facility dedicated solely to this purpose, it includes meeting rooms for academic classes and clubs, a 120-seat theater for the film society, a café—which serves sushi and smoothies—and a study lounge.

The Gund Partnership, headed by Kenyon class of ’63 alumnus Graham Gund, FAIA, has worked with the college on six buildings and a campus master plan. While the Athletic Center would seem a stylistic departure from the look of earlier projects, which complement Kenyon’s stony, neo-Gothic aesthetic, Gund says that the building clearly expresses its structure in a way that any medieval cathedral builder would understand. The design team chose to locate everything under a single, arcing roof, creating a hangarlike structure some 540 feet long and 305 feet wide. Two central rows of concrete columns support steel space trusses for the roof, while columns at the perimeter support cross members and a glass-and-aluminum curtain wall.

Transparency was Gund’s watchword. Except for a few areas along the building’s west elevation, where the varsity arena and tennis courts are located, fenestration spans most of the other three sides, enclosing a 57,000-square-foot track at the north end, and at the southeast corner, the natatorium, a pool so large it can accommodate free swim simultaneously with both varsity swim and diving practices. None of the opaque interior walls reach the ceiling, allowing views across the building’s entire length. Bands of triangular skylights follow the roof supports, daylight bouncing off their struts and casting intricate shadows below. Faculty offices and conference rooms are located along the building’s perimeter or, on the second floor, overlooking the main sports venues.

Formal name of project: Kenyon Athletic Center

Location: Gambier, Ohio

Gross square footage: 265,000 sq.ft.

Completion Date: April 2006

Total construction cost: $60 million

Owner: Kenyon College

Architect:
Gund Partnership
47 Thorndike St.
Cambridge, MA 02141
617 259 6800
617 577 9614 FAX
www.gundpartnership.com

 

resources | editorial calendar | submit work | contact us | about us | call for entries | site map | back issues | advertise | terms of use | privacy notice | my account
© The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved