On Tuesday, Feb. 4, a meeting open to students was held to discuss new architectural plans for the Student Recreation Center. Part of the Long-Range Campus Development Plan, also known as Vision 2050, these additions are in an effort to bring new life to campus.
The LRCDP, which is projected to be completed by 2050, will include a renewal of the SRC, a new Vandal Health Center and the Guy Wicks field complex.
Trevor Fulton, the Executive Director for Recreation and Wellbeing, said that he and his team are looking forward to the possibilities this plan brings. Though this project will not be set to break ground for years, he explains that student input is valuable now.
“We did a targeted but pretty wide-range reach-out to students on campus and said, ‘You’ve been involved in this previously, here’s an opportunity to provide feedback based on what we’ve already heard,’” Fulton said.
The plan, Fulton explained, would be a multi-step effort to better campus health in a number of ways.
He hopes that in this LRCDP, health services like the Vandal Health Clinic and Counseling and Mental Health Center will begin to center around the SRC.
“I think there’s a potential to co-locate different programs down in this general region, and that’s kind of the making of this holistic health and wellbeing area on campus that’s directly servicing students,” Fulton said. “Instead of all these programs being scattered, how do we centralize it, have it close to university student housing, and have it be more readily accessible and probably functionally a little bit better for students to use.”
Though it’s a plan with a 25-year range of execution, Fulton estimates that the SRC expansion will begin in the next three to five years.
Planned to be on the west and south sides of the building, the new addition would potentially include common requests from students, such as additional court, weight floor and open fitness space.
As more collaboration happens between the university and the architect group, more information regarding the plan will be shared. While it’s not yet in the design stage, Fulton is very excited about the benefits the plan will bring to student life on campus.
Fulton encourages students to take a look at the LRCDP project, as he says student input is valuable.
“Ultimately, we can’t do any of this without the help of students,” Fulton said.
Paige Wilton can be reached at arg-news@uidaho.edu.