Intercollegiate Athletics Building

UCSB’s Intercollegiate Athletics Building consolidates the Athletic Department’s programmatic and symbolic presence in one building, encompassing offices for administrative staff and coaches, student-life space, weight training, and therapeutic training facilities. Situated adjacent to a future pedestrian thoroughfare connecting the campus’s north and south halves, the 44,000 sf facility creates a symbolic gateway between academic and athletic facilities. A palm-tree alée visually strengthens the connection between the IAB and the existing Robertson Gymnasium by creating a processional entry to the athletic fields and facilities beyond.

With a sequence of courtyards and patios, the building capitalizes upon Santa Barbara’s regional vernacular and climate. Scale, color, and materials complement the existing gymnasium while offering a new and dynamic interpretation of the existing architectural language, continuing the existing gym’s long, floating roof lines with a similar motif energized by new architectural activity. Under the sculptural roof, the building’s glazed entrance lobby allows visibility between front and back, suggesting a continuity that is spatial as well as visual and circulatory. Furthering the dialogue between inside and outside, the curving wall of a student assembly space penetrates the glazed front façade and continues into the building, drawing in passersby.

Size  44,000 SF
Location  Santa Barbara, CA
Year 2005
Client UC Santa Barbara