Redesign Your School Athletic Pavilion | 2014 National High School Architecture Competition #124
|Advanced Technologies Academy (A-Tech) is a facility for students striving to get the best educations and to prepare themselves for university, but here body is just as important as the mind. Students are encouraged to stay fit and to exercise daily. We’re required to take physical education for two years, but who wants to exercise in a dark and dreary room? Students need some kind of motivation or reason to love exercise and to try to combat obesity. The first step to an enjoyable exercise experience is an engaging environment and functional equipment.
Design Problem: Currently, the gymnasium at Advanced Technologies Academy is in dire need of a face lift. The gym that now stands is unable to meet to the needs that must be fulfilled for the space to be usable. The gym wasn’t finished until six years after the school was open, in 2000. The design was meant to accommodate the 500-600 student population. In the past ten plus years, the student population has nearly double to approximately1100 scholars. When taking into consideration this little blurb of information, it becomes apparent that the overall size of the gym needs to be reevaluated and increased.
The locker rooms lack a place to store belongings and change without having to worry about knocking into another person. In addition, students have to share his/her locker with one-two other people since there are not enough for everyone to have their own.
Design Solution: To make A-Tech a place to exercise the mind as well as the body, I’ve decided to demolish the weight room and locker room areas. These areas of the gym are the least functional due to the lack of space and workability. I will then create an enhanced athletic pavilion for A-Tech.
The first task will be to add a second floor to the gym. The class sizes for physical education are ridiculous, with nearly 60 people in the girl’s class and even more in the boy’s class. Fitting that many people in to exercise is difficult and unfair to the students. With the addition of a second floor, there will be more areas to spread out and exercise. The second floor will include a race track that wraps around the room, a rock-climbing wall, and rooms that can host yoga, dance, table tennis, and additional storage.
The standing gym can serve as a basis for the new athletic pavilion. The main floor would need a few additions such as a new set of purposeful locker rooms, where every student will have their own locker, and a genuine weight room. Some new add-ons would be an indoor pool and indoor volleyball/tennis courts.