OhioHealth Performance Center City of Columbus, OH

Project Description:

The Columbus Crew is the only team to convert an existing soccer-specific stadium into a training complex. The stadium is geographically in a great location but an aesthetically challenging one — surrounded by a parking lot, shopping center and interstate. A surrounding berm with life and growth was designed to give the facility’s three full-sized soccer pitches an oasis-like feeling. The building’s exterior materials add to the lightness and warmth of the facility with punches of color, fiber-reinforced lightweight concrete panels, dark metal, and aluminum soffit panels in a wood-like finish. These design moves make it seem far removed from the areas near which it sits.

Designers met with team ownership, leaders and coaches to identify players’ day-to-day activity and schedule, applying that information and a player-focused mentality to the interior layout to maximize the efficiency of the space entirely. The layout allows occupied areas to have floor-to-ceiling windows that allow sunlight to penetrate the entire building and provide opportunities for direct visual and physical access to the pitches.

At nine times the square footage as the Crew’s previous facility, Performance Center amenities for the first team and academy players ages 12 to 19 include locker rooms for players, coaches and staff; athletic training and sports performance rooms; a players’ lounge; shared dining space; meeting rooms; an entry lobby with media workspace; and coaching and staff offices. The interiors consist of high-ceiling environments with clean and simple yet solid and warm materials utilizing a combination of black and white with walnut and gray wood tones. Lighter-hued spaces are for public interaction, while performance-based areas use darker tones. Moments for branding celebrate the team and the community that supports it, reminding players and coaches for whom they’re competing.