Athletic Center, Oregon Episcopal School, Portland
RETROFIT TEAM
ARCHITECT AND INTERIOR DESIGNER: Hacker
GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Fortis
LANDSCAPE: Walker Macy
CIVIL ENGINEER: Cardno, now Stantec
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: DCI Engineers
MEP ENGINEER: PAE
LIGHTING: O-
ACOUSTICAL ENGINEER AND THEATRICAL/AV: Listen Acoustics
MATERIALS
The directive from Oregon Episcopal School representatives was to create a safe and supportive experience for all students, regardless of their interest or skill in sports, by transforming an aging gymnasium building into a vibrant new athletics center to support varsity team sports and physical education classes. The 22,000-square-foot renovation and 20,000-square-foot expansion of the Athletic Center features flexible student and faculty meeting spaces, dedicated team rooms that replace standard locker rooms, group collaboration spaces throughout, two full-size gymnasiums, and physical education and athletic department offices.
The exterior envelope shares a common language with the recently completed lower school in which vertical wood slats and texture reference the nearby campus woods.
The following is a sampling of materials used in the project:
CHAIRS AND COUNTER STOOLS: Emeco
TABLES AND COUNTER TABLES: Muuto
SIDE TABLES AND COFFEE TABLE: EcoPDX
LOUNGE CHAIRS: National
WOOD DOME PENDANT LIGHT: Arnsberg
GYMNASIUM LIGHTS: Zumtobel
THE RETROFIT
Oregon Episcopal School (OES) is an independent, co-ed college preparatory school of 800 students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. The school’s identity is rooted in Oregon’s natural beauty and diverse people and history. The Athletic Center design, which embraces nature and the outdoors as a teaching tool, reflects the OES community’s desire for open spaces that encourage gathering and support interaction.
The design team’s engagement with OES students and athletic department staff heavily influenced the design process with conversations focused on schedules and routines. Partnered in the commitment to be an inclusive, equitable and future-forward campus hub, the design team and OES envisioned a space that replaces locker rooms with flexible, all-purpose team rooms, allowing student-athletes and their coaches a mix of private and communal space. The design centers on the reclamation of underutilized spaces, replacing facilities, like showers and lockers, with flexible, all-purpose team rooms, encouraging team building of all-skill-level mixed-gender teams.
Designed for resiliency, the OES Athletic Center meets strict seismic criteria to provide shelter and support to OES and the surrounding community after a seismic event. With a highly efficient envelope, passive cooling strategy and minimal mechanical conditioning, this building strives for high performance, meeting the Energy Trust of Oregon-Path to Net Zero and aligning with Architecture 2030 Challenge goals. The Athletic Center reduces energy use by 82 percent from CBEC’s baseline with an EUI of 15kBtu per square foot per year.
PHOTOS: Lara Swimmer unless otherwise noted