Halas Hall includes many wellness and relaxation spaces for the players, coaches, and staff (photo courtesy of the Chicago Bears)
Trends in leveraging media and technology Experienced builders understand how critical it is to engage with athletes, coaches, and staff to ensure success from design through occupancy. At the UW's Softball Performance Center, Mortenson's team toured the coaches and players through design options aided by virtual reality (VR) mockups. Utilizing tools such as VR creates real- time opportunities for athletes to visualize their day-to-day experience in the facility and for coaches to get a sense of operations and player interaction. This exercise effectively supports an informed design and construction decision-making process, ensuring the finished facility exceeds expectations for operational performance. At Arizona State University's new Mullett Arena, Mortenson leveraged an immersive VR experience to drive excitement for the new space, bolstering recruitment and attracting donors to help fund the new arena. With technology's ever-growing demand in sports performance, media- rich environments also define and brand sports facilities. This multi-media experience extends into the athlete's day-to-day life, where utilizing a facility with leading-edge technologies enables athletes to train in highly specialized environments that support individual and team performance. High-profile cameras on the court record an athlete's every move—from body posture while dribbling a ball to the arc on a free throw—while force plates in the floor detect and measure the force athletes exert into the ground. Players can analyze their performance with data-driven insights to fine-tune their training regimens. The one-of-a-kind LeBron James Building at Nike's World Headquarters takes this to another level, where Mortenson constructed four climate-controlled chambers with steel-clad walls capable of studying athletes' physiological responses to exercise under any environmental conditions—including temperature, humidity, radiant heat, and airflow.
recovery treatment to mental health support and nutrition capabilities. Elite sports programs require one-stop-shop facilities that serve a variety of athlete, coaching, and staff desires while remaining flexible in their approaches to evolving needs. For student-athletes, this includes academic support spaces outfitted with tutors, study rooms, and more. To support a state-of-the-art sports medicine hub for athletes, the latest health and wellness components such as cryo pools and chambers, hydrotherapy tubs, hot/cold plunge pools, flotation baths, extremity pools, and hyperbaric recovery rooms are in increasing demand. Gaining insight into the latest equipment ensures design parameters are known well in advance, enabling seamless procurement, installation, and commissioning without impacting the project schedule for a seamless end-user experience. A well-executed facility enhances player performance while remaining cognizant of an athlete's demanding schedule. An example is the design for the University of Washington's (UW) new Basketball Training Operations Facility, where elements draw from past successes at the University of Colorado Boulder's Champions Center (CU Boulder) in anchoring all decision-making around the commitment to best serve student-athletes' physical and mental demands. By co-locating amenities, CU Boulder's student-athletes conveniently practice, weight train, eat, attend meetings, study, lounge, and receive medical treatment within a few yards. Efforts to prioritize the building's interconnectivity save the student-athletes at least 30 minutes per day in travel time. A facility should also include weight training technologies for performance analytics, specialized equipment and furniture, audiovisual/sound systems, branding, and graphics enhancements as well as thoughtful HVAC, lighting, and hygienic elements and upgrades.
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NOVEMBER 2023 csengineermag.com
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