Fitness Center Wins National Architecture Showcase Award

The Ithaca College Fitness Center was one of 10 athletic and recreation facilities across the United States and Canada to be named a "facility of merit" for the year 2000 by Athletic Business magazine. A record 103 facilities applied for the magazine’s Architectural Showcase competition, which is now in its 20th year. Other winners included the Conseco Fieldhouse, home court of the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association; Blair County Ballpark, home of the Altoona Curve minor league baseball team; and the McLane Student Life Center at Baylor University. The Ithaca College Fitness Center was designed by HOLT Architects of Ithaca.

The entries were judged by a national panel of seven architects, who cited the exterior of the Fitness Center for its visual interest and the way it coordinates with existing structures on campus. The judges also praised the interior for the impressive way the 42,800-square-foot facility integrates the two gyms, aerobics/dance studio, exercise area, and locker rooms into a harmonious whole.

"The uniqueness of the design is the interplay of smaller volumes that are broken apart to respond to the smaller-scale buildings on campus," wrote Bradford Noyes of Brailsford & Dunlavey in Washington, D.C.

"Interior and exterior details are very well designed and applied," added David Finci of the Hillier Group in New York City.

"Members of the campus community have been giving us a lot of positive feedback on the way the Fitness Center has benefited them," says Brad Buchanan, manager of the College’s recreational sports programs. "To know that a national panel of architects has recognized this facility as truly excellent is a great honor."

Opened in the fall of 1999, the Fitness Center is available for use by students, faculty, and staff as well as by residents of Longview.