Contributed by Eric Hawkes
The new Carmichael Gym and Recreation Center renovation will be located on the corner of Cates Avenue and Morrill Drive. It will include more space for fitness, strength conditioning and training.
Carmichael Gymnasium and Recreation Center are about to undergo a new renovation that will include more fitness spaces and wellness programs to benefit students in their pursuit to live a healthier lifestyle.
The current administrative building that sits on the corner of Cates Avenue and Morrill Drive will be torn down in order to make space for a new building that will not only offer new wellness spaces, but also join together the gymnasium and recreation center.
Eric Hawkes, executive director of Wellness and Recreation at Carmichael, discussed the upcoming renovation.
“What we describe as the administrative wing, that building will be knocked down and we will be constructing a new facility on top of that space,” Hawkes said. “That new building will be a new main entrance to the existing facility.”
According to Hawkes, the new building is designed to be “very open and inviting and inclusive.” One of the most common complaints from users is the difficulty of navigation within the gym complexes, so a main goal of this construction process is to connect the facilities and to make the entire complex easier for everyone to navigate.
“There is multiple buildings,” Hawkes said. “There is multiple entrances. This new building will really connect all of that and turn what one of our challenges is today into a strength.”
According to Jason Spivey, associate director of Wellness and Recreation, the new addition will include multiple new workout spaces in order to reduce the crowding that is often seen in the current facilities as well as provide users with more options.
“We are going to provide a lot of variety in the fitness spaces,” Spivey said. “We are going to have private fitness spaces so that folks that don’t want to be out in public can find a space they can be more private in which is something that I definitely think we need in the building.”
Furthermore, on top of the new fitness spaces that are to be included, the Carmichael addition is very focused on the idea of wellness. Faculty and staff have worked to incorporate the idea of total wellness in the design and layout of the new construction by including spaces for campus partners, such as the Counseling Center, to offer their wellness programs.
“We know that students are coming to campus with lots of challenges, and we know that mental health is a significant challenge for a lot of our students, and faculty and staff as well,” Hawkes said. “With this facility, we want to provide a lot of the fitness, strength conditioning, functional training spaces that we are sort of lacking which is a need. But we also wanted to create a space to invite our campus partners that touch all things related to wellness.”
Spivey said that one of the goals of the renovation is to create a central space for health and wellness information on campus.
“What we want to do is be a hub for that information [on wellness] and trying to create those connections for our users across campus,” Spivey said.
Until construction is completed, there will be an active construction site at the area and, according to Spivey, “there is certainly going to be inconveniences such as noise.” However, both Spivey and Hawkes assured that, despite some inconveniences, the construction plan was made with the intention of minimizing the disturbance to students, faculty and staff.
“During the design process, one of the driving keys of the thinking behind the design was to minimize the impact on the existing users,” Hawkes said.
Hawkes and Spivey both said that the amount of student involvement that has occurred throughout the ideation and design process has been beneficial.
“The coolest aspect of the project for me thus far has been the involvement of our students,” said Spivey.
Through forums and town halls, University Recreation has worked closely with students to produce a functional space that addresses current needs.
“It comes from the student’s ideas and voices and visions, and that’s been pretty awesome,” Hawkes said.
This renovation is scheduled to begin May 15, and is projected to be completed sometime in fall 2020.