Georgia Tech Breaks Ground on High-Tech Athlete Performance Center

The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) recently broke ground on a new athletic center for its campus in Atlanta, Ga., according to a news release. The Thomas A. Fanning Student-Athlete Performance Center will measure in at 100,000 square feet and include facilities for strength and conditioning, sports medicine, mental health services, nutrition, and meeting and office space. The Board of Regents approved the project in April 2022. The university is partnering with the S/L/A/M Collaborative (SLAM) for the project’s design and DPR Construction for its construction, the news release reports.

The Fanning Center will also feature the university’s first sports science lab. The lab will use pro-model motion tracking to collect student-athlete performance data, which will then funnel into an in-building data analytics office for analysis and performance tracking.


Image courtesy of SLAM

“It’s been incredibly special to have led the design for my alma mater, creating a new epicenter of athletics that is holistically dedicated to student-athletes’ success,” said Marc Clear, SLAM lead architect and principal. “The groundbreaking of the Thomas A. Fanning Student-Athlete Performance Center is an exciting milestone in creating this technology-rich home for GT Athletics.”

Sustainability features will include cross-laminated timber to provide warm accents throughout the facility; repurposed steel from the existing Bobby Dodd Stadium infrastructure; and energy-reduction strategies throughout the building.

”As the college athletics landscape evolves, we’re thrilled to start bringing Georgia Tech’s vision for student-athletes and its campus to life,” said DPR Construction project executive and Georgia Tech alum Brian Oliver. “We’re also proud that this project will help support opportunities for local workers in the skilled trades, many of whom feel personal connections with the campus and its athletic program.”

The Fanning Center is scheduled to open its doors in spring 2026, the news release reports.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • University of Pennsylvania Releases Design of Future Physical Sciences Building

    The University of Pennsylvania (Penn) in Philadelphia, Penn., recently released renderings of an upcoming 350,000-square-foot Physical Sciences Building, according to news release. The facility was designed by CO Architects and will unite the university’s departments of Physics and Astronomy, Mathematics, and Earth and Environmental Science.

  • S4L Announces 2026 Education Design Showcase Winners

    Spaces4Learning is thrilled to announce the winners of the 2026 Education Design Showcase! Now in its 27th year, the annual awards program honors innovative solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction across K–12 and higher education.

  • Planning with Clarity: Using AI to Make Better Campus Decisions, Not Just Better Designs

    Higher education leaders are being asked to make increasingly high-stakes decisions about campus facilities amid greater uncertainty than ever before. Social and economic pressures, shifting enrollment, and evolving learning models compete with growing deferred maintenance needs to strain even the most robust infrastructure budgets.

  • Chartwells Launches Campus Dining Evaluation Framework

    Contract food-service management provider Chartwells Higher Education recently announced the launch of BLUEPRINT, according to a news release. The evaluation framework was designed to provide a data-driven and customizable roadmap towards optimizing campus dining services and, by extension, the student experience.