Crawford Architects of Kansas City blended old and new beautifully. They took the unused concourse space under the storied stadium's archways, enclosed it with glass, and created a clean, well-lighted place for building sound bodies and improving athletic performance.
The $26.7 million project was completed in the spring after 18 months of construction. The fitness center, available to students, faculty, staff, and alumni, opened in early July; the weight room began hosting Penn athletes in early June.
What's remarkable is that Penn already had a palace of perspiration - the David Pottruck Health and Fitness Center at 37th and Walnut. Pottruck offers 19,000 square feet of workout space. The Fox Fitness Center, with another 8,000 square feet, is an east-campus chapel of exercise to Pottruck's cathedral.
"Best in the Ivy League by far," director of recreation Amy Wagner declared of Penn's fitness amenities.
The other day, Wagner and the aptly named strength and conditioning coordinator, Jim Steel, gave me a tour.
The two-level fitness center is outfitted with the latest equipment - treadmills, elliptical trainers, selectorized resistance and weight-stack machines. Certified personal trainers lead 30-minute circuit classes. The wall of large windows floods the space with natural light.
The separate strength and performance center (a.k.a, "the weight room") is a paradise for jocks. Created by excavating fill that covered the original level of the concourse, it's below grade but, because of ingenious lighting, doesn't feel underground.
"It could be a dungeon but it's not," Steel said.
And the new weight room is four times larger than its funky, dingy predecessor. "We used to have scheduling problems," Steel said. "Now, several teams can work out at once."
