Courtesy of Antoine Predock, design architect and Moody/Nolan, architect of record A view of the model designers built for the Larkins Hall project

Designers plan entirely new Larkins Hall

After months of review, plans to combine a renovated Larkins Hall with a state-of-the-art addition built next to it now call for replacement of the current structure.

The project will be constructed in two phases, with the current facility to be razed sometime in 2004, after the first phase has been built.

"Considering the amount of maintenance needed to keep it up, the feeling was we weren't going to save that much money by renovating," said Diane Jensen, associate director of the Department of Recreational Sports.

Building standards have changed dramatically since Larkins was built in the 1930s, Jensen said. Problems include low ceilings, lack of a fire suppression system and Americans with Disabilities Act compliance.

She said the new structure will increase square footage from 280,000 square feet to 605,000 square feet, and will add classroom space and such amenities as an outdoor adventure area and climbing wall, new aquatic facilities, a student wellness center, and a turf gymnasium suited for indoor soccer, lacrosse and batting practice.

The design will make it easier to navigate than the current maze of corridors. Users will enter in the middle of the facility and circulate out to separate recreation, aquatic and academic villages, Jensen said.

Construction on the first phase is expected to begin in spring 2002 and be completed within 24 months, Jensen said, and will include the majority of recreational and aquatic space. The second phase will include additional recreational space and classrooms, laboratories and research facilities.

David Chapman, project manager with the Office of the University Architect and Facilities Planning, said the new facility will incorporate the School of Physical Activity and Educational Services (PAES), which currently has faculty housed in Arps, Pomerene and Larkins halls.

Michael Sherman, director of PAES, said laboratories in the new building will help revolutionize the school's use of technology in teaching and research.

"The sport and exercise education laboratories will allow our teacher education for physical education faculty to develop improved teaching methods to enhance the learning of movement and sport skills for life-long physical activity in diverse populations," Sherman said. "The new sport and exercise science laboratories will allow that faculty to train students in more practical situations, and involve them in their research to understand how the body adapts to physical activity in normal and diseased conditions and how to adapt and maintain physical activity across the lifespan."

Classrooms and PAES staff and faculty currently housed in Larkins will be temporarily relocated during the second phase of construction, Chapman said. But the phased construction of the new facility will minimize inconvenience to exercisers, putting only two basketball courts out of commission during the entire process.

"We're basically building the new phase I on the tennis courts and then extending south to the women's field house," Chapman said. "Phase II sits on foot prints of the current Larkins."

Related to, but separate from, the Larkins project is a 650-car parking garage, to be built a bit to the east of the 12th Avenue garage, according to Sarah Blouch, director of the Office of Transportation and Parking Services. The $11.8 million garage will help replace lost parking in the core area of campus, she said, with funding coming from parking permit fees and hourly garage fees. Construction is expected to begin next fall, with an opening early in 2003.

The total cost of the Larkins project will be $136 million, Chapman said. State money, the Department of Athletics, a faculty and staff membership fee and a student fee intended to go into effect at the completion of the first phase will each pay for a portion of the facility, Jensen said.

Besides air conditioning, indoor features at Larkins will include an increase in fitness and conditioning space from 7,000 to 25,000 square feet; more multipurpose space for sport clubs and aerobics classes; racquetball and squash courts; additional wood courts for basketball, volleyball and badminton; a new aquatics area, including a leisure pool with a beach entry; and an outdoor adventure center, where faculty, staff and students can check out back packs, canoes and camping equipment.

Jensen said the plan also includes expanding outdoor facilities, with 15 tennis courts and four multipurpose grass fields planned. Additional items, depending on their budget, include a roller hockey rink, a skate park, basketball courts and sand volleyball.

"I believe that this facility is going to be a centerpiece for the campus and is going to be a real asset to recruiting students," Chapman said.

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