Imagine you could peer 20 to 30 years into the future and see tomorrow’s campus rec center. What does it look like?
When Marty McFly and Doc Brown travel to the year 2015 in Back to the Future Part II, they find themselves in a futuristic society with hoverboards and flying cars. Some of this famous movie’s notions of what the future would look like still feel like fiction.
However, a few themes do hold true:
- Technology is more ubiquitous than ever.
- And rapid change is inevitable.
We may not be able to predict everything, but we know it will be substantially different than what we see today.
This past year, those themes became even more apparent. The pandemic changed everything we know about the world. People everywhere were forced to quickly adapt to a new way of life — turning to technology in many instances to do so.
At Sasaki, we saw our clients do the same, especially on college campuses as they completely rethought the traditional student experience. Campus recreation directors adapted to COVID-19 in creative and forward-thinking ways, finding solutions that kept students safe while still maintaining the health and wellness benefits recreation programs offer.
Reflecting on the lessons that campus recreation programs learned during the pandemic, what will we carry with us in the long-term? How could technology, fitness and wellness intertwine? How could recreation spaces and programs adapt to change? If we stretch our imaginations and hypothesize about what campus recreation will look like a few decades from now, just as Back to the Future did in the 1980s, maybe we can equip ourselves to embrace the inevitable change to come.
We spoke with recreation directors from six different schools about what changed over the past year and where campus recreation is heading long-term:
- Stephanie Smith from MIT
- Jen Gudaz from Cornell University
- Monica Verity from Wellesley College
- Gary Wohlstetter from University of Maryland, Baltimore County
- Rob Simels from The College of New Jersey
- Andy Lemons from St. Edward’s University.
They reflected on changes in technology, perspectives on wellness and nutrition, the flexibility of spaces and programming, sustainability, and how we might design campus recreation centers to be future-proof.
The Future of Campus Recreation: Technology
Imagine: You’re a college student in the year 2050. You just got out of your last class of the day, and you decide to head to the campus recreation center for a group workout. When you walk in, a holographic banner registers your presence. You look at the digital screen on your forearm that immediately updates and it tells you where to head for your workout based on a robust profile of your health and wellness needs built on data collected over time. You turn on your virtual reality (VR) glasses — today’s workout is taking place on a beach in the south of France — and join the others.
Technology is changing the way we do everything in the world. Even before the pandemic, technology had become integral to many everyday tasks, including working out. Virtual fitness options like Peloton and Zoom fitness classes exploded in popularity over the past year as people were forced to spend more time at home.
These virtual fitness options also became more personalized. Tracking technologies like FitBit, Apple Watches and WHOOP encourage activity by tracking your movements all day and providing real time feedback. “There’s so much information fitness technology provides today, and looking forward I think continued advancements are going to change the way people look at everything in life around fitness and wellness,” predicted Gudaz.
Campus recreation directors must consider how recreation spaces will develop alongside these advancements. Smith is already noticing how MIT’s transition to mobile credentialing affects building security. Students now use their mobile devices to access buildings across campus, including recreation buildings. Could this new technology prompt a change in how students interact with campus resources?
EXTRA CREDIT: The development of technology continues to improve the rate of immediate gratification, and the fitness industry is no stranger to this demand.
Simels predicts virtual fitness will become a bigger component of programming in the next five years. “Students’ schedules are so tight, they can’t always commit to something on campus, but they can commit to doing it from home,” he observed. “It might not be us doing the programming, but we’re providing the access for students.”
Existing virtual workout companies like Peloton could use this as an opportunity to solidify a presence on campuses, added Sasaki principal and architect Bill Massey: “It makes sense for Peloton to provide discounts for campus populations, with the expectation they’d get a bunch of new subscribers after graduation.”
As wellness options outside of the traditional recreation center continue to proliferate, recreation facilities will in turn evolve to be equipped to integrate options for students participating in person and virtually.
Beyond integrating personalized tracking technologies and virtual programming, we asked the recreation directors to stretch their imaginations and hypothesize how technology might advance in the more distant future.
“I really believe we might create some cool geodesic room or holodeck like they imagined in Star Trek that no matter which way you run, you just keep running, like a hamster wheel, and fully immersive screens envelope your view so it’s a 360-degree real space experience,” Massey suggested. “I could see VR becoming immersive enough that every school will have VR rooms.”
EXTRA CREDIT: Jake Minnis, the Fitness and Wellness coordinator at the University of Arizona, shares advice on virtual fitness programming.
Smith wondered if spaces like this would eventually be a byproduct of esports, and if they would become as standard as a cardio space. They could also simulate playing sports like soccer, or could allow students to compete against each other from two different locations, Simels added.
How we use equipment and program spaces within recreation facilities is bound to change as well. Wohlstetter from University of Maryland suggested rethinking swimming pools. “In lieu of the traditional large 25 or 50-meter pools, there could be individual small resistance pools for training in the aquatics centers,” he said. “The variable resistance tanks can also be used for both cold and warm water therapy.”
As technology advances, however, not all schools will have the same resources to devote to new gadgets. “There’s such a financial and economic gap caused by the pandemic,” Verity stressed. “The reality is some students can’t afford to eat. Colleges and universities will need to use their resources to help students meet basic levels of physical, mental and financial well-being.”
While not all schools will implement the kinds of innovations described above, it is important to remember at their core recreation centers are to be welcoming and accessible to anyone.
The Future: Wellness and Nutrition
After your virtual reality workout class, you head to the on-site cafe for a bite to eat. The personalized nutrition recommendations you receive on your forearm tattoo suggest you order a sandwich complete with detailed nutritional content suited specifically to your own metabolism.
After eating, you want to find a place to unwind before heading to the library. You find an open mindfulness room — a quiet space dedicated to practices like meditation. On your way there you pass recovery and rejuvenation rooms, where students can receive physical therapy and recovery treatments.
“Imagine a completely immersive wellness experience, with visuals, sound, and even temperature and textures that change to reflect your virtual surroundings. You can meditate on the top of a mountain or along the shores of a beach instantaneously,” said Massey.
Over the past decade, a holistic approach to wellness has become mainstream. Knowing healthy bodies and healthy minds are connected, more sports and recreation programs are integrating wellness and nutrition into regular workout plans. Smith has also noticed a growing interest not just in working out but in recovery. Knowing that awareness for these types of programs will only grow, we must think about how to build campus recreation facilities that incorporate spaces that promote wellness.
“Instead of just focusing on technology, how we design facilities might actually change the way health and wellness is done on campuses,” Simels said. “Maybe other programming is housed together with recreation so students can get the wellness experience in one place. That way, students know where to go to learn about holistic wellness practices before they’re in an emergency situation.”
EXTRA CREDIT: Old Dominion University provides nutritional programs through the campus dietician, Tracy Conder. Read more about it here.
The UMBC Retriever Activities Center (RAC), designed by Sasaki, accommodates both recreation and wellness activities. Along with improvement on workout facilities, the center’s design looks to incorporate health services and counseling in the future.
The Penn State Behrend Recreation and Wellness Center also houses a counseling center reinforcing the connection between mental and physical health. Double height spaces at the entry lobby, gym overlook and fitness room provide informal gathering spaces in the building that are vital to students’ social lives. By inviting students into the same space for athletics, recreation and wellness, these buildings not only facilitate community interaction but also send a larger message about wellness:
- A healthy lifestyle is interconnected.
- And finding harmony between exercise, diet and social life should be within reach.
Aside from a growing interest in holistic wellness practices, the pandemic increased awareness of general health practices as more people realized the importance of regular exercise in maintaining overall wellness. The directors we talked to emphasized recreation programs are most effective when they focus on what they do best: engaging students in exercise as a form of preventative care.
Lemons noticed during the pandemic his fitness classes were full of students wanting to build exercise into their quarantine routines.
Gudaz noticed a difference when wellness was incorporated into Cornell’s academic curriculum. “My 600 Physical Education classes were full even before freshmen enrolled this year,” she said. “We’re seeing students who want it more because they have a set time for their workout rather than fitting a drop-in time into their schedule.”
If this trend continues, recreation programs and facilities will need to find ways to accommodate more students with a range of interests.
The Future of Campus Recreation: Flexibility and Adaptability
As a busy student in the year 2050, finding time to exercise in your packed schedule is rare. When you do have a free day, you like to join your friends on outdoor adventures like hiking and rock climbing.
You also stay busy keeping up with current events. You’ve heard stories about the pandemic in 2020, and know if a threat like that comes along again, you may need to change your lifestyle at a moment’s notice.
As we’ve seen over the past year, being able to quickly adapt to changing situations is vital. With rapid change in the world and new demands from students, campus recreation programs will continue to prioritize flexibility and adaptability, both in the spaces they occupy and in their programming.
Changing priorities from students have begun to change what programs recreation directors offer. All of the directors we spoke to also agreed outdoor activities are growing in popularity.
Outdoor Activities:
- Gudaz noted climbing walls are in huge demand at Cornell.
- Simels hypothesized basic amenities for outdoor exercise like walking paths may see implementation in the future at The College of New Jersey.
- Monica Verity suggested incorporating introductory education and having rental equipment available is important for making outdoor activities accessible to students who come from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds at Wellesley College.
Verity also observed events with lawn games and activities like sunrise yoga are popular, and club sport numbers are at an all-time high. “Students want to play, they want to socialize, they want to be in-person,” she said. “They are done with being isolated and they want to connect.”
There are also the changes we’ll never be able to predict. Gudaz suggested in the future, students could even have a chance to go to space for programming. “The most recent space launch happened in under 15 minutes. Maybe in the future we will be doing that for orientation or weekend programming,” she said. “What if we add some kind of competition for everyone in the capsule while they are up there — who can do the most burpees, crunches or curls?”
“It’s possible, even likely, that space travel will be as commonplace as driving is today,” Massey predicted.
Recreation programs must be able to quickly adapt to these changing demands, and these spaces should be able to accommodate new trends and changes to their programming when needed. While nothing in the future is certain, the one thing we can prepare for is change.
The Future: Sustainability
While it’s fun to imagine what life might be like in 2050, it’s hard — especially for young students — to think about the future without acknowledging the impending threat of climate change. Our actions now will determine how the world looks in 2050.
As climate change already begins to impact lives around the world, it’s important to consider sustainability and resilience in the design of campus recreation facilities. Recreation buildings are the perfect candidates to rethink how to limit energy consumption at every stage, from choosing materials, to construction, to post-occupancy energy use.
When building new recreation facilities, we could limit embodied carbon — or the greenhouse gases generated in the lifecycle of building materials — from production through the end of the building’s life.
This has been central to Sasaki’s work on the Colby College Athletics Center, a 350,000-square-foot new facility that opened in the summer of 2020. Sasaki — with a collaborative team consisting of Hopkins Architects, Arup, Thornton Tomasetti and Consigli Construction — designed a sustainable, functional and high-performance building that prioritizes efficiency and optimizes the use of resources, reducing the project’s embodied carbon and saving cost for the client.
EXTRA CREDIT: Illinois State’s sustainable initiatives are an effort to improve wellness, without compromising resources for future generations.
In a life cycle assessment, comparing the projected environmental impact of the specified design against a standard baseline, the team was able to demonstrate double-digit percentage improvements in six key categories:
- Global warming potential
- Ozone depletion
- Acidification
- Eutrophication
- Tropospheric ozone
- Nonrenewable energy
Massey noted many of Sasaki’s clients are requesting buildings that are either fully net zero or net zero ready.
To limit energy use after construction, we could consider programming changes to use spaces for as many different activities as possible. Gyms, for example, can also be of use for large campus gatherings and events.
On the other hand, spaces that can only be used for one purpose, like racquetball courts, could be eliminated or reduced in favor of more flexible and highly utilized spaces.
EXTRA CREDIT: What should one actually do with a racquetball court that sits empty the majority of the day? Consider these fitness trends.
Sustainable practices could also influence recreation programming. Simels imagined, for example, rooftop gardens could become a setting for outdoor recreation activities and an opportunity for wellness education. Large recreation buildings are also great candidates for photovoltaic energy. Recreation facilities could utilize fitness equipment that provides energy back to the grid, and in combination with other energy-saving practices, facilities could eventually sustain themselves.
Implementing sustainable practices in every stage of a recreation building’s design and use is critical in ensuring the future imagined above exists. It is a future full of creative technological advancements, holistic wellness practices, and flexible spaces and programs.
