San Diego City College will be opening the refurbished, state of the art “Exercise Science” building this spring on Jan. 25. Students are now able to schedule classes for Spring 2010 that will be held in this new “P” building. The projects scheduled finish date is Dec. 14 and faculty and staff will start moving in later this month.
Located on Park Blvd. besides the Harry West Gymnasium and the Fitness Center P-2 building, the new P building project involved the complete renovation of an existing two-story concrete gymnasium building. There is very little remaining from the original building except the basic structural outline. The upgraded facility will include new workout rooms, locker rooms, classrooms and faculty and staff office workspace.
The work includes interior and exterior demolition, new interior partitions, a new curtain wall system and new ceilings. New systems and fixtures, including plumbing, electrical and mechanical, a new roofing system and enhanced architectural finishes are also new features of the building. There are also new ramps designed for students with disabilities that meet the regulations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The project design, by GKK Works architects, received a Design Visionary Award by the American Institute of Architects at its May Annual Design Awards.
This complex will have teaching stations to support cardio and kickboxing, spinning, yoga, martial arts, and a weight room. The new equipment will enable students to take what they’ve learned and immediately transfer it into the workplace, without any learning curves related to equipment or technology.
There will be a much bigger “media” room, so teams can go over performance tapes and see what opposing teams are doing as well as developing their own skills.
Ursula Kroemer, Communications director at San Diego Community College District Office, says that “the faculty, and Dean Kathy McGinnis especially, have worked very hard to identify all of the program needs for students, and create the ultimate teaching and learning environment. (It’s) not just for what is needed now, but (it’s) also long-term. It has been well worth the wait.”
McGinnis has worked hard to see this venture through and is head of the athletics department.
“The Exercise Science Building will be a state-of-the art facility providing wonderful opportunities for students to improve their overall fitness,” McGinnis said. “The P building will consist of Exercise Science classes. The whole building will be wireless.”
The medical training center is also larger and more modern. Kinesiology Professor Lori Ray says she’s “very happy with the bigger, restructured, updated training center.”
