Stonhard Provides Quick, Cost-Effective Flooring for Coppins' Physical Education Complex

Coppin State UniversityCoppin State University is a modern urban learning environment nestled in western Baltimore. Each year thousands of students cultivate their skills and knowledge on the 52-acre campus. The university thrives on the motto “Nurturing Potential… Transforming Lives.”

After several years of planning and construction, Coppin State unveiled its brand new 246,000-square-foot Physical Education Complex. The $136 million facility includes a 4,100- seat basketball arena, a NCAA regulation pool, a fitness center, an auxiliary gymnasium, a dance studio, racquetball courts, and classrooms, as well as many outdoor fields and recreation areas. When plans were drawn up for the design of the basketball arena, polished concrete floors were specified for corridors, lobbies, and locker rooms. However, as work began, project managers were extremely unhappy with the unsatisfactory appearance of the first applications in the locker rooms and put a halt to the entire installation.

Finding themselves in an unexpected situation and drawing from numerous previous positive experiences with Stonhard, the project superintendent reached out to Stonhard’s local territory manager for guidance. Stonhard guaranteed a long-lasting, decorative floor system that could be installed quickly and at a fraction of the cost of the originally specified polished concrete.

Coppin State UniversityStonhard recommended Stonproof ME7 as a crack-bridging agent on the surface of the concrete substrate, followed by Stonhard’s TecTop UF system. The Stonproof ME7 filled all cracks in the floor surface, creating a smooth surface for the next steps in the installation process. TecTop UF creates a seamless, stain-resistant floor surface that is durable and requires little maintenance. A colored epoxy undercoat and a layer of colorful, broadcasted flakes, finished off with a clear urethane sealer, resulted in decorative, eye-catching floors in the complex’s new lobbies, concourses, walkways, restrooms, locker rooms, and pool observation deck. Facility planners and project managers were impressed by Stonhard’s quick and cost-effective remediation of the situation.

Nearly a century in business, Stonhard is the unprecedented world leader in manufacturing and installing high-performance polymer floor, wall, and lining systems. Stonhard maintains 300 product engineers and 200 application crews worldwide who work with you on design specifications, project management, final walk-through, and service after sale. And, Stonhard’s single-source warranty covers both products and installation.

Sponsored by Stonhard

Featured

  • University of Kentucky Receives $150M Gift Toward New Arts District

    The University of Kentucky’s Board of Trustees recently received a $150-million gift from The Bill Gatton Foundation, according to a university news release, to build a new arts district on the campus in Lexington, Ky. The new district will feature a new College of Fine Arts building and a multi-hundred-seat theater, among other amenities.

  • Spaces4Learning Launches 2026 Education Design Showcase Awards

    Spaces4Learning has opened submissions for the 2026 Education Design Showcase! The awards program launched in 1999 with the goal of celebrating innovative, practical solutions in the planning, design, and construction of K–12 and higher-education facilities. EDS recognizes new developments that help achieve optimal learning environments, as well as the architecture firms that brought the ideas to life.

  • Ohio State University Opens 26-Story Hospital

    The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center recently opened in Columbus, Ohio, standing 26 stories and covering 1.9 million square feet, according to a university news release. The project marks ten years of effort and is the university’s largest single-facility construction project ever.

  • Houston-Area High School Breaks Ground on 117,000SF Multi-Use Facility

    North Shore Senior High School, part of Galena Park ISD in Houston, Texas, recently broke ground on a new multi-use facility for student extracurriculars, according to a news release. The North Shore Multi-Use Facility will include dedicated practice and training space for the school’s athletics and fine arts programs.