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.…
Although counter to some trends, team locker room space can be optimized by sharing certain components.
The rise of dedicated competition and practice facilities for individual Division I and II collegiate sports has made the design of team locker rooms more straightforward.…
An early learning center is not an elementary school. Early learning environments need to provide a warm, welcoming setting that reflects a home environment rather than an institutional or school environment. Yet the same place needs to provide support for the physical and emotional needs of young children during the 6-to-8 hours they spend there each weekday.…
