University of California, Santa Barbara, 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