varsity news

NEWS RELEASE
Durham Lords Media Release
Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Campus Recreation and Wellness Centre featured in the Athletic Business Magazine

OSHAWA, Ont. - The Athletic Business magazine, which is considered to be the leading resource for athletic, recreation and fitness professionals, has selected the Durham College and University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) Campus Recreation and Wellness Centre to be featured in the 22 nd annual architectural showcase (article attached). 

The showcase features athletic, fitness and recreational facilities constructed or renovated in the past three years. The highlighted facilities will be judged by a panel of leading sports, recreation and fitness facility architects, and 10 winners will be selected for the 29th annual Facility of Merit Awards program being announced in the December issue of the magazine and presented at the Athletic Business Conference from December 3-5 in Orlando, Florida.

“It is a great honour to be recognized by a significant publication like the Athletic Business Magazine,” said athletic director Ken Babcock. “It demonstrates the quality and innovation of the world class facility that we have on campus.”

The Athletic Business magazine has built a reputation among athletic, fitness and recreation professionals as the industry's must-read magazine. It is read in print by more than 40,000 qualified subscribers (and tens of thousands more online) representing colleges and universities, high schools, park and recreation departments, military branches and bases, health clubs, YMCAs, professional sports teams, stadiums and arenas, sports architecture firms, and hospital and corporate wellness centers.

The CRWC profile in the Athletic Business magazine is as follows (article attached):

The Campus Recreation and Wellness Centre, which represents a significant addition to an existing varsity gym, serves Durham College and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, and meets the sports, health and wellness requirements of the growing college and university. The new facility is placed in a central campus location, and is flanked by a main pedestrian artery that runs along the principal axis of the college and university. Located on the opposite end of the new facility is a natural green space with indigenous plants and watercourses, which creates a juxtaposition between physical activities and the calmness of the natural world.

The facility houses a regulation-size basketball gymnasium that can be divided into three courts, with spectator seating for 2,000. Above is a suspended four-lane jogging track that requires nine laps to complete a mile. A 10,000-square-foot fitness center provides state-of-the-art equipment, a multipurpose room and meeting space. A major focus of the new center is wellness, demonstrated by the inclusion of a campus medical center, counseling offices, a pharmacy, a sports medicine clinic and a physiotherapy studio.

Overall massing and material composition were viewed in relationship to existing neighboring structures, resulting in an aesthetic that utilizes masonry, horizontally delineated glazing and articulated portals celebrating sport, the sense of arrival and the experience of participation



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FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Scott Dennis
Sports Information and Marketing Coordinator
Durham College and UOIT Athletics
905.721.2000 Ext. 2784 (P)
905.721.3117 (F)