May 17, 2004
For More Information
Al Oberlander
515.288.3141
RDG Planning & Design has been selected from 25 firms to design new training facilities for baseball, soccer, volleyball and track for the University of Florida’s Athletic Department. This prestigious commission will be RDG’s seventh sports architectural project on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville, FL. RDG’s growing list of college and university sports facility clients has earned the firm a strong national reputation, with award-winning facilities in Florida, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Iowa, as well as major projects in Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, Illinois, Texas and Wisconsin.

“This project is especially exciting for us, because the competition was fierce, and it was from some of the biggest names in the business,” said Al Oberlander, Principal at RDG Planning & Design. “In the last decade, we’ve become a prominent player in this national market. We’ve got a unique approach and a real depth of knowledge here, and clients see it. That’s not only good for us, it’s good for Iowa.”
Since 1992, RDG has had a particularly fruitful relationship with the University of Florida, which has an athletics program that consistently ranks as one of the top five in the nation, based on all sports performances. The award-winning 1994 Southwest Recreation Center (and its subsequent addition) serves a multitude of student recreation and intramural needs. Several acclaimed university sports programs have RDG-designed homes, such as the Health & Human Performance Program in its renovated Florida Gym facility, the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex, and the Basketball Practice Facility. ESPN commentator Andy Katz called the Basketball Facility,” the most striking basketball practice facility in Division I, and perhaps, in all of basketball.”
RDG also designed the sophisticated Florida Club facility for the University of Florida Athletic Association, and Oak Hammock, a retirement community funded by the University of Florida Foundation. In addition to specific building designs, RDG has led five extensive master planning processes for the University of Florida.
In Iowa, RDG Planning & Design has its stamp on higher education sports and recreation facilities across the state. RDG designed the new Football Practice Facility at Iowa State University, the Knapp Center at Drake University, the Ron Skipper Sports Center at Central College, the University of Iowa Fieldhouse renovations, and is currently working on projects at Wartburg College, Loras College, and the Drake Stadium renovations.