“To measure is to know. If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it.” – Lord Kelvin. This same thinking can be applied to the built environment and the design process to attain maximum operation results.
The diagram below identifies the 4 steps to achieve high performance design and the goals associated with each step.…
Based upon a recent user survey conducted by RDG and Athletic Business magazine, the future as seen for collegiate rec indicates movement toward a technologically advanced but individualized campus recreation center experience. The years that separate a building’s initial planning and its completion make it imperative that owners and architects are accurately able to forcast for future trends” ..…
Jack Patton, director of RDG’s sports studio, explains how aquatic facilities are a huge growth area in College Recreation. Particularly leisure pools, with lazy river rides, slides, zip lines and climbing walls. A lot of students don’t want to swim laps, but a leisure pool is a great equalizer: I can get my toes wet, I can play, I can study, I can watch a movie, I can socialize.…
“Everybody keeps pushing the edges on student recreation building” says Al Oberlander, principal and COO at Des Moines, Iowa-based RDG Planning & Design. “Its ‘what can we do that will separate our building and how can it tell a story about what goes on inside?’” The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Outdoor Adventure Center makes it purpose apparent with a 41-foot-tall exterior climbing wall intend to resemble western Nebraska’s Chimney Rock National Historic Site.…
For years, it’s been known that the simple act of viewing or visiting a safe landscape is beneficial to our health. It’s why corporations value the “corner office” and why picture windows became a staple in our homes; viewing landscapes makes us feel better. …
Though the people of southwest Missouri are certainly familiar with severe weather, on the afternoon of May 22, 2011, everything changed for the parish of St. Mary’s Catholic Church and School in Joplin, Missouri. A catastrophic tornado swept through the town, leveling the entire parish facility with the exception of the church cross.…
More schools are realizing that student health and student recreation can be compatible cohabitants under one campus-wellness roof.
Vibrant student recreation centers have become mainstays of contemporary college campuses. So have health-conscious students. To take full advantage of these trends, many institutions are merging their recreation center and student health center into a single facility.…
As corporate environments strive for sustainable excellence and look to attract today’s modern professionals, designers are becoming more creative on how to bring the outdoor environment and corporate culture together. There are several benefits to working outdoors – consider that both temperature control and lighting are free!…
“They splash for slithering tadpoles, tip-toe to observe butterflies, and set up mini-track and field for beetles in the sand,” says Naturalist Lew Major. “They learn things about themselves that they don’t even know they’re learning and learn in ways traditional schools aren’t teaching.” Major animatedly refers to the children experiencing the Jester Park Natural Playscape in Polk County, Iowa, USA.…
Through integrated best management practices, we are striving to incorporate measures that reduce the amount of runoff and improve the water quality of every site. There are site and design practices that can assist in creating a more sustainable, regenerative environment, while utilizing a natural systems approach – one that mimicking the ecological systems of the tall grass prairie.…
