The new 580,000 sq ft Recreation and Physical Activity Center is a crossroads at the heart of The Ohio State University campus. Beyond just a physical activity facility, the Recreation Center acts as a campus gathering place, providing both interior and exterior spaces for informal campus life. As the gateway to one of the largest green reserves on campus and the Olentangy River beyond, the Center frames a grand plaza, focusing views and leading students out to the Recreation Fields. Adjacent to the revered Ohio football stadium, the Recreation and Physical Activity Center forms a dynamic terminus for Tuttle Park Place, a major campus arterial. Racquetball courts, gymnasiums, natatoriums and fitness areas, as well as laboratories for the study of the science of activity and motion, will be housed together in a symbiotic village punctuated by ravines, promontories, towers and bridges.

In response to OSU campus masterplanning directives, the activity center acts as a “Primary Pedestrian Connector” by allowing pedestrians to actually ascend the building and walk along and over it. Promenades, streetscapes and urban courtyards throughout the center reinforce and enhance existing campus pathways and carve out new routes in response to student pedestrian desire lines. Outdoor seating areas view the recreation fields to the west.

The design of the recreation center composes a matrix of activity nodes that pivot around a central crystalline core. Users descend from this light-washed public space into the intimate scale of the locker rooms below the outdoor plaza before dispersing to their ultimate destinations throughout the recreation center. Users circulating through the recreation center will find lofted playing courts, a sweeping indoor track hovering above fitness areas and solitude. Fitness and play are enhanced by filtered natural light throughout.

In association with Executive Architect Moody/Nolan Ltd Inc., Columbus, Ohio