Today's state-of-the-art student recreation centers make college gyms of old seem almost unrecognizable. The top university fitness centers compete on a level with the finest private clubs in the nation. In addition to devoting substantial space to aerobic equipment, weight machines, and free weights, the best modern university gyms also incorporate elements such as rock climbing, bouldering, sand volleyball, indoor tracks, whirlpools, saunas, golf simulators, Pilates and martial arts studios, and more.
From aesthetic and environmental standpoints, they also excel. Many of the rec centers we evaluated are winners of multiple significant design awards. A large number of them were also developed with environmental and efficiency standards in mind, and consequently received LEED ratings from the USGBC.
Modern student recreation centers add value to an education on a variety of levels. Students have access to more diverse opportunities for physical fitness and recreation. Aesthetically, these facilities enhance the appearance and appeal of a university campus. They help improve students' health and well-being and the quality of campus life overall.
Because of the increasingly important role these facilities play in university life, our editors sought to understand the trend more deeply and invested several weeks researching the ultimate student recreation and campus fitness centers. In doing so, they consulted university websites, local and regional news sources, and portfolios of architecture, project management and construction firms, and specialty vendors. They were looking for facilities that offered both outstanding opportunities for physical recreation and also exceptional attention to design detail and aesthetics. They were especially interested in projects that emphasized operating efficiencies and sustainability – in particular, those with a U.S. Green Building Council LEED rating. (For information about these ratings, see USGBC.org.) For purposes of this article, only projects completed within the past ten years (2003 or later) were considered.
Rating and Ranking Methodology
In evaluating each facility, the editors awarded points as follows. It's not a perfect system, but it gives you a sense of our editors' priorities with respect to this particular research.
LEED Rating3 points – LEED Platinum rating
2 points – LEED Gold rating
1 point – LEED Silver rating
2 points – Major (national or international) design award
1 point – Regional or local design award
1 point – Sports/fitness specific award
1 point – 8 sq. ft or more per student in the new and/or renovated space (Student enrollment figures were taken from Wikipedia.org.)
1 point – "Wow" factor – amenities beyond traditional fitness facilities, such as rock climbing walls.
Best College Gyms and Recreational Centers
After reviewing these and dozens more exceptional candidates, we believe that the twenty represented in this list are the best of the best – the standard by which other student recreation facilities will be judged for years to come. We order them here by number of points awarded in our point system (least to greatest). In the event of a tie, we ordered the facilities alphabetically by university name.
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Additional Sources:
https://www.utsa.edu/Sombrilla/summer2009/story/loop/rec_center_receives_award.html
https://utsa.edu/today/2009/03/recaward.cfm
https://www.recmanagement.com/201005aw1b.php
https://www.fitbie.com/slideshow/20-fittest-colleges-america
https://www.buildings.com/article-details/articleid/1586/title/new-construction-awards-2003-getting-fit.aspx
https://www.athleticbusiness.com/galleries/project.aspx?id=284
https://news.uwgb.edu/log-news/releases/05/06/kec-design-award_09118/
https://asi.fullerton.edu/src/sustainableDesign.asp
https://www.recmanagement.com/200905aw1a.php
https://www.counsilmanhunsaker.com/projects/rice-university/
https://www.sasaki.com/project/1/
https://www.athleticbusiness.com/galleries/project.aspx?id=486
https://www.counsilmanhunsaker.com/projects/morehead-state-university/
https://www.cannondesign.com/projects/project-catalog/recreation-center-4/
https://www.counsilmanhunsaker.com/projects/university-of-iowa/
https://www.counsilmanhunsaker.com/projects/illinois-state-university/
https://recsports.osu.edu
https://www.counsilmanhunsaker.com/projects/ohio-state-university/
https://www.fitbie.com/slideshow/20-fittest-colleges-america
https://csunshinetoday.csun.edu/arts-and-culture/csuns-student-rec-center-receives-award-for-its-design/
https://www.counsilmanhunsaker.com/projects/colorado-state-university/https://www.utsa.edu/Sombrilla/summer2009/story/loop/rec_center_receives_award.html
https://utsa.edu/today/2009/03/recaward.cfm
https://www.counsilmanhunsaker.com/projects/ohio-state-university/
https://www.mensfitness.com/training/the-25-fittest-colleges-in-america
https://www.fitbie.com/slideshow/20-fittest-colleges-america
https://recsports.osu.edu/posts/documents/rpac-factsheet.pdf
https://www.counsilmanhunsaker.com/projects/virginia-commonwealth-university/
https://www.news.vcu.edu/article/VCUs_Cary_Street_Gym_Wins_Recreational_Sports_Facility_Award
https://www.sasaki.com/project/2/
https://www.sundt.com/projects/university-of-arizona-student-recreation-center-expansion/
