Quinnipiac University
Recreation and Wellness Center
Hamden, CT
The Recreation and Wellness Center at Quinnipiac University has become a central campus hub for students to become their best version of themselves. The project was designed through a collaboration between designLAB Architects and S3 Design.
Through a mix of programming, the Recreation and Wellness Center aims to promote holistic health and well-being by combining clinical health, mental health, nutritional health, and recreational fitness in one cohesive facility.
Holding these functions together is a social education hub that connects the program elements and provides opportunities for formal and informal interaction and education.
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Completed: February 2023
LEED®-Gold Certified
55,000 SF addition
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Feasibility Study
Architectural Services
Interiors
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“How to Help People Through Their Best (or Worst) Day: Rec Design for Wellbeing” Athletic Business
”New recreation and wellness center opens at Quinnipiac University” Fox 61
”Quinnipiac University Opens $45 Million Recreation and Wellness Center” NBC Connecticut
Externally, the new building connects to the existing Athletics and Recreation Center, which offers a prominent location on the edge of the main campus quad and creates a contemplative courtyard between the new and existing buildings. Internally, existing campus resources such as the elevated track and fieldhouse will connect to the new facility to increase program offerings that are to be shared between athletics and recreation.
The Social Education Hub is a versatile programming element that ranges from gathering spaces to a demonstration kitchen and breakout spaces that act as a connecting space to the Recreation, Counseling, and Health Services suites, providing a buffer from the activity of the recreation program.
To promote an environment for holistic health, natural materials including wood finishes, local stone, and green living walls are used extensively. Further enhancing this, an exposed heavy timber-frame structure is complemented with glass curtainwall and roof apertures that connect inside and outside giving views to the campus, the sky and the natural landscape of the adjacent Sleeping Giant State Park.
Photos © Anton Grassl
