2008 Woodie Awards
Athletic Center's interior unveiled
By: Tressa Versteeg, Staff Writer
Issue date: 2/8/08 Section: News
After months of ongoing construction on the Macalester Athletic Recreation Center and speculation about the MARC'S interior design, The Mac Weekly staff toured the facility on Wednesday and viewed it all, from a sprawling field house to the spaces where whirlpools, intended for injured Macalester athletes, will soon reside.
And it is as impressive as the building s grand exterior and hefty price of about $46 million suggests.
Sky-reaching ceilings, an Olympic-sized swimming pool and a view that stretches all the way to Kagin Commons constitute a few of the MARC's attributes. The MARC will open for public use Aug. 1 and Macalester will have an official grand opening ceremony Sept. 6.
Of the $46 million needed for the project, $22 million has been raised. The fundraising goal is $26 million. The rest of the money will be debt, which Hamre said is typical for these types of projects.
Hamre said that the original design McGough presented was longer and skinnier than the present MARC. A team of Macalester administrators, however, revised the blueprints to make the building more energy efficient. Now Mokak is showing the MARC to prospective clients as a model of a compact, energy-efficiency design.
Hamre said that while details of the MARC's hours of operation have yet to be finalized, she offered 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. as a possible range for weekdays, and 9 a.m. to 12 a.m. on
weekends.
The main campus entrance will be at Shaw field. Once inside the MARC, the gymnasium is directly to the left. It will be used for basketball, volleyball and intramurals, as well as convocation, concerts, dances and speakers. Laurie Hamre, vice president of student affairs, said that with chairs on the floor, the gymnasium holds 2,200. Two pullout bleachers and one permanent bleacher form a U around the gym.
Hamre, who has been a key player in designing the building's interior, noted that the blue rafters in the gymnasium form natural "M" shapes. In order to "blow some life into these big boxes," Hamre said, one "M" will be painted orange.
And it is as impressive as the building s grand exterior and hefty price of about $46 million suggests.
Sky-reaching ceilings, an Olympic-sized swimming pool and a view that stretches all the way to Kagin Commons constitute a few of the MARC's attributes. The MARC will open for public use Aug. 1 and Macalester will have an official grand opening ceremony Sept. 6.
Of the $46 million needed for the project, $22 million has been raised. The fundraising goal is $26 million. The rest of the money will be debt, which Hamre said is typical for these types of projects.
Hamre said that the original design McGough presented was longer and skinnier than the present MARC. A team of Macalester administrators, however, revised the blueprints to make the building more energy efficient. Now Mokak is showing the MARC to prospective clients as a model of a compact, energy-efficiency design.
Hamre said that while details of the MARC's hours of operation have yet to be finalized, she offered 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. as a possible range for weekdays, and 9 a.m. to 12 a.m. on
weekends.
The main campus entrance will be at Shaw field. Once inside the MARC, the gymnasium is directly to the left. It will be used for basketball, volleyball and intramurals, as well as convocation, concerts, dances and speakers. Laurie Hamre, vice president of student affairs, said that with chairs on the floor, the gymnasium holds 2,200. Two pullout bleachers and one permanent bleacher form a U around the gym.
Hamre, who has been a key player in designing the building's interior, noted that the blue rafters in the gymnasium form natural "M" shapes. In order to "blow some life into these big boxes," Hamre said, one "M" will be painted orange.
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