Outside company will gather ideas for new recreation center
This week Rice will announce the name of a company that will help determine priorities in a new recreation center.
The Board of Trustees has approved the recreation center, which will be built across the Inner Loop from McNair Hall, by the club sports fields. Assistant Dean of Students Boyd Beckwith said the company is not being asked to design the building. Rather, the firm will determine what sort of building will fit on the site, the square footage Rice can afford and what types of facilities the building should include.
“We’ll have a difficult decision to make in terms of where to put all the money,” Beckwith, the director of the Student and Recreation centers, said. “[The company] will talk to students, staff — all users of the current facility.”
Beckwith said major issues for the pre-design phase include whether or not to build an indoor track and how to design a new swimming pool.
“I think there will definitely be a pool,” Beckwith said. “The current one is 56 years old. The question is what kind of pool — will there be more than one: Will it be a competition pool? An indoor pool? An outdoor pool?”
Beckwith said the varsity swimming team and possibly other varsity athletic teams will be included in discussions about the new facility. However, he said, the building will be focused on the general student population.
Sid Richardson College sophomore Ponney Palanisamy, the Student Association representative to the Rec Center Advisory Council, announced at Monday’s SA meeting that the company will meet with the committee within the next month and that the company will eventually hold a forum for interested students.
Beckwith said there is no concrete timeline for the design and building process but that he thinks the new Rec Center will likely be completed in four to six years.
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