Debates over relocating the traditional sites of both the Dartmouth Outing Club headquarters and the baseball field dominated much of yesterday's presentation by Centerbrook Architects of their plans for the College's new recreational and athletic facilities.
Centerbrook architect Chad Floyd presented the proposed plan for a 200,000 square foot recreational facility -- housing among other elements the DOC, pools, basketball courts and fitness machines -- located where Memorial Field presently stands. The proposal will be presented to the Board of Trustees as the recommended plan, Floyd said.
Floyd urged students to think beyond what is currently at Dartmouth and said he thinks that if a new complex be constructed, it would become one of the two main centers of student life on campus.
The recreational facility would be connected to Alumni Gymnasium and Berry Sports Center, which would also undergo substantial renovations and restoration work.
Similar to Tuesday's meeting that discussed social and dining space, Floyd presented the plans as "proof of space" drawings designed to show the suggestions that students and community members had made in previous workshops, focus groups and in a web-based survey.
The preliminary plan, considered the best of seven drawn up by Centerbrook, features a recreation center across the street from Alumni Gym, and connected by a upper-level bridge. Both buildings would be entered through an enlarged version of the current Alumni Gym entrance.
In the proposed model, the main level of Alumni Gym would house lounges, basketball courts and a trophy room large enough for team meetings or social events.
Upstairs would be a large room with fitness machines and free weights that would lead to the bridge connecting to the new recreational center.
Among the accoutrements of the new center would be "the longest climbing wall on the planet," a juice bar, three basketball courts, fitness machines, a running track and 50 meter pool.
The DOC would be housed in an "immense sector of the recreation center," Floyd said, with its own mainlevel entrance, offices and parking spaces for vans and indoor and outdoor activity.
The relocation of the DOC from the proposed student center was the cause for many questions after Floyd's finished proposal. Many students stressed the importance of the DOC being at the heart of campus.
Floyd said that Centerbrook is trying "to do right by DOC concerns" and added that he was aware of its long history at Dartmouth.
He said he sees the DOC "as a fantastic organization that is bursting at the seams" in its current Robinson Hall offices.
The new recreation center would provide more than enough space for the DOC, he said, but additionally, they might be allocated office space in the new student center designs, as well.
Audience members also questioned the architect firm's appreciation for Dartmouth traditions because the plan hinges on the translocation of the baseball field from behind Alumni Gym to a new site on Sachem Road, farther from campus than the current field.
The proposed plan would locate both the baseball field and softball field back-to-back and separated by a building housing locker rooms, press offices, and concession stands. The complex also has parking.
Baseball Head Coach Bob Whalen said during the question-and-answer session he feels moving the field would have a "devastating effect" on the College baseball program.
Whalen said he has received numerous calls from baseball program alumni who are opposed to the idea of moving the field and that he personally feels moving the field far off-campus would hurt the College's athletic recruiting.
Floyd said that the firm is drawing up a smaller-scale "plan B" design that would not involve moving the field, but that it would probably be "impossible" to house everything in a complex near Alumni Gym without moving the field.
Floyd could not provide monetary figures for the project yet and said that those would be "a shocker" and might necessitate a less extensive plan.
He said he feels this project will bring the College's athletic facilities into the next millennium.
Also outlined were the results of the survey on athletic and recreation facilities of what students wanted in new facilities.
Presented by Brad Noyes, an expert in athletic facilities working with Centerbrook, the survey found that students want most of all expanded access and availability to individual weight and fitness machines.
While currently Kresge offers 4,000 square feet of machine space, the new buildings would boast 12,000 to 15,000 square feet, Noyes said.
The buildings would also answer requests for more pool access and lanes, although members of the swim team in the workshop audience said they felt that the proposed pools would not meet their needs as well as they had hoped.
Floyd stressed numerous times, as he did at Tuesday's meeting, that the plans now are preliminary and that they will need to analyze financial costs.
