George Mason University Breaks Ground on New Recreation Center

George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., recently announced the groundbreaking of the new Activities Community Wellness Building for its campus. The facility will measure in at 25,000 square feet and is scheduled to open in spring 2025. It will play home to student programs, events, and the school’s pep band, according to a news release.

Amenities will include a full-size NCAA basketball court, additional courts for basketball and volleyball, dedicated space for exercise and yoga classes, storage space, conference rooms, and office space. The university partnered with Hoar Construction for the project’s design and Powers Brown Architecture as architect, the news release reports.

“We are looking forward to beginning our first project with George Mason and kicking off construction on this exciting, innovative project,” said Hoar Project Executive Tom Amos. “This endeavor will provide a much-needed, dedicated space for George Mason’s intramural athletic clubs, pep band and student wellness, celebrating the university’s rebrand and new era of growth. We are proud to add this facility to our track record of higher education initiatives across the country and will remain dedicated to quality and safety for students, faculty and staff throughout the construction process.”

The construction process involves building a concrete tilt-up building with two tent structures on either side. The flexibility to remove the tents later and build a more permanent facility will shorten the overall construction timeline and reduce project costs, the news release reports.

About the Author

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

Featured

  • Rethinking K-12 Schools as a Continuous Learning Experience

    Most students move through three or more separate facilities during their K-12 journey, yet the built environments they encounter at each stage have traditionally been designed in isolation, with little continuity in spatial language, learning philosophy, or physical resources. Each new school is a reset with different layouts, learning models, expectations, and ways of moving through a building. The next generation of school design is making the case that the first day of kindergarten and the last day of high school can and should feel connected through common support systems and infrastructure in the physical environment.

  • 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.

  • Virginia Tech Tops Out New College of Engineering Building

    Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., recently celebrated the topping out of Mitchell Hall, which will soon stand as the largest College of Engineering building on campus, according to a news release. The university partnered with Skanska on the 285,500-square-foot facility, which has an expected completion date of winter 2028.

  • Children walking along bright school corridor with motion blur

    How Next-Gen Design Is Reshaping the Student Experience

    The environments where students learn play a crucial role in shaping their growth in and out of the classroom. By centering design on well-being, flexibility, and purpose, districts can ensure their facilities remain vibrant community assets for many years to come.