Beckerman Recreation Center, West Haven, CT
nora Products Shine in Crown Jewel of University of New Haven Campus
When members of the University of New Haven (UNH) staff met with architects at Sasaki Associates, Inc., Watertown, MA, to discuss plans for the David A. Beckerman Recreation Center, they said they wanted a recreation facility that would meet a wide variety of fitness needs for the school’s 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students while helping to attract new students to the school.
What they got is a $15.5 million recreation facility that has quickly become what Mike Schneider, director of campus recreation at UNH, describes as the “crown jewel” of the West Haven, CT, campus.
The floor-to-ceiling glass windows of the 56,500 square-foot structure invite those on the outside to enter the building, both visually and physically. “Even before you walk into the building, the weights and fitness spaces are on display, beckoning you to join the fun,” said Sasaki Project Architect Robert Titus. “Once inside, the open, transparent floor plan creates a sense of energy and activity that encourages people to participate in the activities going on around them.”
And students are responding. According to Schneider, “In the year that the center has been open, we’ve doubled and tripled student participation in many of the programs the center offers.”
Yet even with large numbers of students using the center seven days a week, day and night, the facility continues to look as fresh and new as it looked the day it opened, thanks in large part to the simple design and interior finishes that Sasaki selected. Floor coverings from nora systems, Inc. are included among those finishes, covering the busy, second-floor fitness center and the stairwell that joins the two floors of the atrium-like structure.
Titus brought his positive experiences with nora products to the Beckerman Center design. “The fitness space on the second floor houses the center’s electrical exercise equipment and resistance machines – things like elliptical machines, treadmills, Stairmasters, rowing machines, stationary bikes, etc. I recommended norament strada for this space, because I knew from experience that the floor covering is durable and easy to maintain, important features when we’re talking about large machines, steady traffic and limited downtime for maintenance.
“The floor covering also offers slip resistance which becomes important in a space where people tend to sweat while they work out.”
Titus’ recommendation is paying off. “The floor is holding up extremely well,” noted Schneider. “Typically in a building like this you worry about wear and tear caused by the equipment and the traffic flow, but I haven’t seen any of that with the nora floor covering. It still looks new.
Schneider and those who use the center appreciate other advantages nora brings to the facility. The floor covering’s acoustical qualities help to absorb the noise the exercise machines create.
The design of norament introduces still another benefit. According to nora sales rep Matt Dorf, the floor covering features a unique cubic surface and tone-in-tone granular design. “This means the surface doesn’t reflect light at a high gloss level. In a space like the fitness center, where sunlight streams in most of the day through glass walls, that’s an important feature. The floor covering actually helps to eliminate harsh glare and instead, creates a soft, easy-on-the-eye finish.”
Schneider is pleased with the way the floor covering looks. “The shades of blue and gray blend nicely with the rest of the décor, making the floor look like it belongs to the facility.”
But what really interests Schneider is the feedback he is receiving on the look of the stairwells. “I know it sounds funny,” he said, “But we get complimented on the floor covering in the stairwells all the time.
“We ended up with stairwells that look sleek and clean, like the rest of the building. It would have been easy to use concrete there, but I’m so glad that we didn’t. The nora floor covering really adds to the aesthetic appeal of the building, contributing to its overall impact, and people are definitely noticing.
“The Beckerman Center is the crown jewel of the campus,” Schneider continued. “And that goes back to using products like nora in areas like the stairwell and the fitness space – key highlight areas that see a lot of activity and have the potential to show wear. But there is no wear in these or other areas. Instead, the building continues to have a new, high class look, and I think the selection of nora has helped make that happen.”
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