Carleton College, Recreation Center

The architect was selected to design a new indoor recreational facility for Carleton College, an independent and highly selective liberal-arts college. The main objectives of the new building were to support recreational activities and to provide a space for social events.
After studying the layout of the campus, the designers decided to build the new recreational facility on the edge of campus, near the outdoor playing fields and arboretum. This meant that the facility would have to be built into a hillside and thus, scale and setting were crucial. There are no square corners but plenty of curved shapes, including a serpentine wall bordering the arboretum and the path leading to the playing fields. The angled walls give a false sense of perspective, while the horizontal banding breaks up the vertical scale.
The two-story facade faces campus while the one-story facade faces the playing fields. This allows students to circulate through the building and transverse the hill and get to the playing fields.

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