Project Description
Funded by a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency combined with a self-imposed student activity fee, this new student recreation center for Missouri State University-West Plains provides much needed multipurpose recreation space for students and faculty. In addition, the facility serves as a community safe room capable of withstanding an EF-5 tornado. The building is nestled into its sloping site and anchored to the campus with a twisting band of Cor-ten steel. This Cor-ten wall retains earth along the sloping entry approach and visually connects the building to two campus icons – a clock tower to the west and a bronze grizzly bear sculpture to the southeast. The concrete enclosure of the building is developed as a rough textured outer layer revealing a smooth inner layer that recalls peeling tree bark from the area’s logging history and site specific trees. This 12,000 square foot facility provides a NCAA sized basketball court with two cross courts, volleyball, racquetball, and technology integration for multi-media presentations.