Last September, the University of Saint Joseph in West Hartford, Conn., held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new 31,277-sf wing to its existing O’Connell Athletic Center that nearly triples the seating capacity of its gymnasium and is serving as a multifunctional nexus of student activities that go beyond sports.
Three years earlier, this historically all-female institution became coeducation, which meant incorporating male students into its programs and increasing its number of varsity sports. In 2017, the university had hired Jim Calhoun, the Hall-of-Fame men’s basketball coach at the University of Connecticut, to build the University of Saint Joseph’s first-ever Division 3 men’s basketball team from scratch. (Calhoun stepped down from the team’s head coach position last November.)
The building addition, designed by JCJ Architecture, includes a new gym that can accommodate up to 800 spectators (the old gym sat roughly 300), as well as four new locker rooms, an equipment and laundry room, the Beekley Center for Student Health and Wellness, and the Hoffman Lobby. Coaches’ offices are located on the second floor. A balcony seminar room, with whiteboard and conference table, overlooks the gym and can be used by all student-athletes.
The addition’s design calls attention to the school’s commitment to reinvention, by reconciling the traditional red brick colonial aesthetic of the existing campus buildings with the modern wing’s sleek glass forms, cantilevers, and projections.
The project hinged on the creation of a full-sized NCAA regulation basketball court. But the school also wanted the new building to benefit the entire campus community. The wing is located across the street from Saint Joseph’s Student Center, creating a hub of activity. The wing’s lobby serves as a ticketing and concessions area during game days, and a space with high-top tables and casual furniture where students can study and socialize.
The ground-floor health and wellness center replaces a facility that had operated from a smaller outlying building.
The $16.2 million project was completed in April 2021. Other Building Team members included BVH Integrated Services-a Salas O’Brien Company (SE, MEP, FP, Lighting Design), O&G Industries (CM), CMK LEED (sustainable design), Langan (site and civil engineering, traffic, landscape architect) Jaffee Holden (acoustics), DVS-a division of Ross and Baruzzini (security), and VJ Associates (cost estimating).
Related Stories
| Apr 13, 2011
Duke University parking garage driven to LEED certification
People parking their cars inside the new Research Drive garage at Duke University are making history—they’re utilizing the country’s first freestanding LEED-certified parking structure.
| Apr 12, 2011
Rutgers students offered choice of food and dining facilities
The Livingston Dining Commons at Rutgers University’s Livingston Campus in New Brunswick, N.J., was designed by Biber Partnership, Summit, N.J., to offer three different dining rooms that connect to a central servery.
| Apr 12, 2011
College of New Jersey facility will teach teachers how to teach
The College of New Jersey broke ground on its 79,000-sf School of Education building in Ewing, N.J.
| Mar 23, 2011
After 60 years of student lobbying, new activity center opens at University of Texas
The new Student Activity Center at the University of Texas campus, Austin, is the result of almost 60 years of students lobbying for another dedicated social and cultural center on campus. The 149,000-sf facility is designed to serve as the "campus living room," and should earn a LEED Gold certification, a first for the campus.
| Mar 18, 2011
Universities will compete to build a campus on New York City land
New York City announced that it had received 18 expressions of interest in establishing a research center from universities and corporations around the world. Struggling to compete with Silicon Valley, Boston, and other high-tech hubs, officials charged with developing the city’s economy have identified several city-owned sites that might serve as a home for the research center for applied science and engineering that they hope to establish.
| Mar 15, 2011
What Starbucks taught us about redesigning college campuses
Equating education with a cup of coffee might seem like a stretch, but your choice of college, much like your choice of coffee, says something about the ability of a brand to transform your day. When Perkins + Will was offered the chance to help re-think the learning spaces of Miami Dade College, we started by thinking about how our choice of morning coffee has changed over the years, and how we could apply those lessons to education.
| Mar 11, 2011
University of Oregon scores with new $227 million basketball arena
The University of Oregon’s Matthew Knight Arena opened January 13 with a men’s basketball game against USC where the Ducks beat the Trojans, 68-62. The $227 million arena, which replaces the school’s 84-year-old McArthur Court, has a seating bowl pitched at 36 degrees to replicate the close-to-the-action feel of the smaller arena it replaced, although this new one accommodates 12,364 fans.
| Mar 11, 2011
Historic McKim Mead White facility restored at Columbia University
Faculty House, a 1923 McKim Mead White building on Columbia University’s East Campus, could no longer support the school’s needs, so the historic 38,000-sf building was transformed into a modern faculty dining room, graduate student meeting center, and event space for visiting lecturers, large banquets, and alumni organizations.
| Mar 11, 2011
Texas A&M mixed-use community will focus on green living
HOK, Realty Appreciation, and Texas A&M University are working on the Urban Living Laboratory, a 1.2-million-sf mixed-use project owned by the university. The five-phase, live-work-play project will include offices, retail, multifamily apartments, and two hotels.
