Redesign Your School Athletic Pavilion | 2014 National High School Architecture Competition #133
|Advanced Technologies Academy (ATECH) is a leading technological school in the state and one of the top schools in the nation as well. However, ATECH suffers from lack of exercising due to shrinking size of the gym each year caused by additional students each year. I came up with the conclusion that this problem can be easily solved by adding some modifications to the building. Here are several lists of problem that were problematic to the gym regarding its design: The gym is too small to handle more than 500 sophomores and freshmens (those who have P.E. classes). Ventilation in the weight training room is extremely poor; in addition, glass block in the room chaotically increases the temperature in the room, making it acts like a microwave. Size is not the only problem, there are still many problems has to be resolved. Such as lack of acoustic in the building causing echoes during assembly or event, no natural light has been given to the inside of the main gym area; without the light, nothing can be seen. At last, unnecessary separated room next to the gym.
In order to solve all this problems we have in the gym, I came up with several different ideas that can be used to modify or add on to the building for future and current usage. First, the glass block in the weight training room will be removed but will add curtain system along the top of the entire wall providing natural light. In addition to modifying the wall, expanding its room will provide much more adequate place for students to exercise. The gym itself (the main central area) will be pushed down towards the school (or to the north) making its width much larger than it supposed to be, it will also provide less walking time for the student. Room 902 will be removed and will be merged with the gym making its length longer. Wall facing the field, east side of the wall will be replaced with tinted curtain wall system giving very cool morning lights and yet provides very friendly feeling with adjacent to the field. Additionally, adding 2nd floor for more aerobic exercises such as dance, running, walking, and even racket ball will provide variety choices of sports what students want to do.
All in all, expanding and editing the wall will do the majority of the job to resolve the problem I mentioned earlier. Addition to new features for each individual student’s health concerns.