West Virginia Universitys Student Recreation Center has won three more national awards for design, bringing to five the number of honors bestowed on the state-of-the-art facility and its architect, Moody Nolan Inc. of Columbus, Ohio.
The Student Recreation Center captured one of nine Outstanding Sports Facilities Awards for 2002 from the National Intramural Recreational Sports Association. The award, presented during the associations annual conference in April in San Antonio, goes to the most innovative recent construction or renovation. WVU is a member of NIRSA .
The facility also claimed the 2002 Education Design Showcase Award from College Planning and Management/School Planning and Management and has been selected to appear in the 2002 American School and University Educational Interiors Showcase, the premier competition honoring educational interior design excellence.
More than 500,000 WVU students and employees have used the $34 million, 170,000-square-foot center since it opened last July on the Evansdale Campus. The building features a climbing wall; four-court and three-court gyms; a 17,000-square-foot weight/fitness area; an aquatics area; an elevated jogging/walking track; a wellness center; and multipurpose rooms.
Dave Taylor, director of the center, said WVU officials are pleased with the awards, especially the one from the schools peers at NIRSA .
“As we were designing and building this facility, we were confident it would receive a lot of recognition,”Taylor said.”These awards reflect favorably on our selection of MoodyNolan as architect.”
Curtis Moody, president and chief executive officer of Moody Nolan, added:”In selecting our firm to design this important project, the University had great confidence in our ability. The University has told us how much the building has added to their campus, and the awards from our peers confirm the value of our design effort.”
MoodyNolan is one of the largest African American architectural and engineering firms in the United States, with headquarters in Columbus. Approaching its 20th anniversary, the 135-employee firm has worked in more than 30 states and also has offices in Cincinnati and Nashville. The company was named the National Organization of Minority Architects Firm of the Year in 2001.