San Bernardino Valley College: Kinesiology and Athletics Complex

San Bernardino Valley College

PHOTOS © RMA PHOTOGRAPHY

San Bernardino Valley College (SBVC) in San Bernardino, CA, has grown steadily since its establishment in 1926. When the substantial 1992 Landers and Big Bear earthquakes struck the area, however, a new sense of urgency accompanied the need to better organize and integrate facilities across the campus.

When asked to design the new Kinesiology and Athletics Complex at SBVC, HMC Architects was faced with a specific geographic challenge: The San Jacinto fault zone, which runs through the San Bernardino community, diagonally bisecting the campus. HMC’s designers had to plan around the fault zone while integrating and organizing facilities across the campus to support the safety of the rapidly growing community. With the new facility’s location at the center of campus, it was important for all site utilities—including the physical education complex and grandstands—to remain functional and uninterrupted during construction. The affected buildings were then demolished and replaced, eliminating the need to build a temporary gym and producing a seamless, less disruptive, and cost-effective solution.

The result is a three-story, 108,509-square-foot facility that features two NCAA competition gymnasium spaces, athletics and PE locker rooms, exercise and dance facilities, office space, and specialized instruction spaces. The complex leads into the updated athletics quad and a new 2,500-seat stadium with concessions, ticketing, toilet rooms, team rooms, meeting rooms, and athletic storage.

Qualities from previous buildings are combined with the new building, creating a cohesive feel across the campus. The landscaping includes a new oak woodland consisting of drought-tolerant plants and walkways, which tie the complex into the overall site.

Standing bold and proud, the facility is a campus focal point—a testament to world-class care for the college’s athletes.

This article originally appeared in the College Planning & Management May 2018 issue of Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • 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.

  • Spaces4Learning Launches 2026 New Product Awards

    Spaces4Learning is happy to announce that we’re now accepting entries for the 2026 New Product Awards! The awards program recognizes the outstanding product development achievements of manufacturers and suppliers whose products or services are considered particularly noteworthy.

  • Utah Valley University Opens New Engineering Building

    Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, recently held a grand-opening ceremony for the new Scott M. Smith Engineering Building, according to a news release. The facility is one of the largest engineering buildings in the state at almost 200,000 square feet, and it plays home to the university’s Smith College of Engineering and Technology (SCET).

  • UT System Board of Regents Approves $108M Housing Complex

    The University of Texas System Board of Regents recently announced the approval of a new, $108-million housing complex at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), according to a news release. The facility will stand four stories and have a total of 456 new beds for freshmen students.