Redesign Your School Athletic Pavilion | 2014 National High School Architecture Competition #276
|For people to understand the reasoning behind my ideas, I believe it would be prudent to take a look into Lincoln east high school’s history. Lincoln east was built in 1967 and was the fourth high school in Lincoln. Since then there have been two major renovations. In 1995 the B Wing was build which added an East gym, an updated weight room, and a wrestling room. Also in 2009, 24 Million dollars was spent on an HVAC system as well as a brand new renovated auditorium. Even though lots of money has been spent to gradually update the school, I personally believe that the school has once again fallen behind the quality that is required to benefit all of the students that attend this school. That is why I have found several key issues and have made plans to fix them.
First of all the school already has three gyms however the north gym is very small and the east gym is rarely used. The south gym is considered the “main” gym and has a volleyball basketball mixed floor. I was thinking that it would be beneficial to remove the volleyball lines from the basketball court and make an updated gym so that we have “two” main gyms. Another big problem in the south gym is that the bleachers haven’t been updated in a long time and the wood is beginning to crack and split, plus it isn’t very comfy to sit on.
The weight room could also be expanded because with all of the athletes that we have training, there is definitely a need for more room in there. We have several areas that are rarely used that could be converted into a separate weight room so that we could spread out the traffic of athletes. During the summer the weight room is opened for all athletes at east as well as the incoming freshmen class to prepare them to become better athletes. This is why we need to separate some of the crowd with two exercise areas and add more equipment to fit everyone’s needs.
It would also be nice if there could be updated athletic fields. We currently have a football field, running track, baseball field, softball field, and tennis courts. The football field definitely needs to have a field turf surface because halfway through the season, the grass turns into dust. The baseball field and softball fields could be updated to be more comfortable for the players to play on as well as for the spectators to watch. The track could at least use a resurfacing because the rubber is falling apart and there are pot holes forming underneath the track. This causes a big problem for many of the athletes because we don’t have a track that allows us to prepare for competition. Another serious problem with the track is that it’s under competition size. This sometimes plays psychological games with an athlete’s mind when they have to run on this smaller track and then go to a regulation size track like Omaha Burke has for the state track meet.
I also believe that the wrestling room needs to be expanded because it is a little spacious but I can’t even count the number of times that I would roll up on someone while practicing because we lacked space. It’s difficult to do drills as well as wrestle live. Wrestling has always been a strong sport for Lincoln east but I don’t think it’s getting the attention that it deserves. This is why I believe that the wrestling room should be made bigger because it would greatly be for the benefit of the athletes.
Something that is optional that I think would be an amazing addition to the school is a running track. I always here about people complaining about how “obese” the students of our nation have become and this is because they need a place where they can exercise in peace. We do have an outdoor track but it is so secluded from the main school, people don’t want to go out to it to run. One thing I’ve noticed while going on many campus visits to other schools is that they all have a running track and many of the students choose to utilize this. That’s why I firmly believe that the addition of a running track would be a great addition to the school that would easily benefit all of the students.
To recap, every one of my redesign suggestions are all major problems that I’ve experienced personally or heard were problems from parents, coaches, and most importantly the student athletes. This is why I’ve chosen these critical issues to be fixed with my design solutions. Expanding the gym and separating volleyball from basketball is critical. Also updating the bleachers is an absolute must. Next a possible new weight room or a simple expansion to the original should happen to account for the growing population of student athletes at Lincoln east. The athletic fields must be updated to make them more pleasant for the spectators as well as the athletes. It would also be nice if the wrestling room could be expanded to make more room for the rapidly growing wrestling team. Finally the possible addition of a running track would be beneficial so that everyone could get a good workout in a peaceful environment.