Campus Rec considering renovation plans

At Monday’s drop-in meeting at the Student Recreation Center, students put their last chance to suggest changes to Campus Recreation facilities to good use.

Bill Goa, Campus Recreation director, said earlier this month that Campus Recreation has been gathering input to determine facilities changes.

Junior Kathryn Bennett said the changes are long overdue.

“They look like they’re from the 1960s,” Bennett said about the current facilities.

General aesthetic aside, the facilities are also overcrowded and dungeon-like, lacking natural lighting, she said.

“People call it a dark cave,” she said.

A firm based in Kansas City, Mo., 360 Architecture, has partnered with Campus Recreation and created three concepts that aim to solve the problems students have with current facilities.

The first concept offers up to 202,000 square feet of levels with floor-to-ceiling glass windows, said Alexandra Bojarski-Stauffer, an architect for 360 Architecture.

The plan would renovate Fetzer Hall, give Campus Recreation control of access to Fetzer from one side, build an addition south of Fetzer and move the ?gymnastics area.

The second concept is nearly identical, with two differences: Gymnastics would remain in its spot, and two overpass walkways would connect the facility to the Student Union and Kenan Stadium, allowing students to walk from the Pit to mid-campus without having to cross South Road.

The third concept plan proposes relocating the Bowman Gray Indoor Pool and replacing it with a four-level building of exercise, yoga and cardio rooms. A natatorium and indoor pool would be constructed to the south of Fetzer.

All three concepts aim to separate the three different areas that are housed in the SRC: athletics, recreation, and the Department of Exercise and Sport Science.

James Braam, a design leader for 360 Architecture, agreed that the lack of space leads to discomfort.

“It should be about inclusion, not intimidation,” he said.

Braam also said a major focus of the concepts is to create sustainable buildings.

“Students should have healthy buildings for healthy lifestyles,” he said.

Braam said UNC is also considering adding underground parking to the area.

Ultimately, Bojarski-Stauffer said what is done is up to the University.

“It’s up to UNC to figure out at what point do they get money,” she said.

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