April 8, 1999
Lafayette College
is constructing a
110,000-square-foot sports
complex on campus that will
significantly enhance the College's
spirit of community and its
facilities for a wide variety of
athletic and recreational activities.
The complex will include a new,
$24 million center for intramural
and recreational sports attached to
the Allan P. Kirby Field House. The field house itself is receiving a
major facelift and interior renovations totalling an additional $2.5
million. The resulting complex will be called the Allan P. Kirby Sports
Center. It is scheduled for completion this coming fall.
Major support is coming from the F. M. Kirby Foundation, Morristown,
N.J., which has committed $20 million toward construction of the
complex.
The new intramural/recreation center will include a three-court
basketball gymnasium with an elevated jogging track. Motorized
dividers will permit different activities to be accommodated
simultaneously in the gym.
Other major facilities include six courts for squash and racquetball, a
fitness room with a full complement of weight-training and
cardiovascular-fitness equipment, two aerobic/multipurpose rooms,
and a climbing wall. The center will also have shower and locker
facilities, offices for coaches and administrative staff, and additional
space for sports medicine.
The project is part of nearly $60 million in campus construction
funded by the College's current $143 million fundraising campaign. A
$25 million science complex and a $7 million residence hall are
already under construction. To date the College has received more
than $82 million in gifts and pledges in support of the Lafayette
Leadership Campaign, which was announced on Oct. 24, 1997, and
is scheduled to run through June 30, 2001.
Lafayette President Arthur J. Rothkopf said, "The Allan P. Kirby
Sports Center will be a major addition to Lafayette's campus, in
keeping with the scale and quality of the College's most prominent
buildings. It will complement the College's academic programs and
will serve an important need by providing a first-class, vital new focal
point for activities that contribute to a healthy environment for living
and learning.
"We are grateful, as always, to the members of the Kirby family for
their dedication and support of Lafayette," Rothkopf continued.
More than 80 percent of Lafayette's 2,000 students currently
participate in varsity athletics, club sports, intramurals, and/or
recreational sports. Kirby Field House is the home of eight of
Lafayette's 23 varsity sports, men's and women's basketball, men's
and women's indoor track and field, coed fencing, men's and women's
swimming and women's volleyball. The 25th anniversary of the
opening of the field house was celebrated during the 1997-98 winter
season.
Charles E. Hugel, chairman of the Lafayette Leadership Campaign,
said, "In addition to encouraging healthy lifestyles, this outstanding
sports complex will foster the spirit of community at Lafayette by
encouraging and facilitating interaction among students, faculty and
staff." Hugel, a 1951 Lafayette graduate and emeritus trustee, is the
retired chairman of Asea Brown Boveri, Inc.
Warfel Construction Co. of Lancaster, Pa., is the general contractor
for the project, which was designed by a team of two architectural
firms, Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott of Boston and Cannon
of Los Angeles. Cannon Engineers of Grand Isle, N.Y., is the
engineering firm. Bovis Construction Corp. is the construction
program manager on behalf of the College.
