The project: The renovation of the 75,000-sf Roosevelt Island Sportspark created a two-story recreational facility with a swimming pool, full-size gymnasium, an exercise room, multi-purpose studio and outdoor basketball court. The building contains two main sections—the pool and gymnasium—with smaller activity spaces in the middle.

The goal: Transform the 1970s-era building and modify existing systems to better suit the needs of the facility and its community.

Project approach: A “Basis of Design” report was generated and utilized to determine appropriate design choices in a collaborative effort with the client and owner. The team assessed existing programmatic and operational needs to reconfigure and update the building interior, incorporate new amenities, upgrade specific infrastructure systems, and redesign the main entrance. While working within the scope and targeted budget, the team identified interior reconfigurations and upgrades that would make simultaneous use of some of the spaces possible to allow for new services and amenities. Such opportunities included reducing the west-side locker rooms, renovating the bathrooms to include accessible fixtures, and using the centralized gymnastics room as a weight/fitness room. The reduction of lockers allowed the creation of additional program spaces, offices, and storage.

Challenge: The owner wanted to eliminate the existing facility’s segmented layout, which caused the underutilization of the building’s core. Solution: The core of the building was transformed to accommodate scheduled classes, cardio and weight equipment, group cycling, and other functional fitness training to better meet the needs of the community.

Challenge: Most mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems were either near the end of their respective useful lifecycles, outdated in terms of meeting the latest applicable codes and standards, or significantly inefficient. Solution: The design included a new direct digital control system to provide better precision and accuracy over processes of all the mechanical equipment, higher flexibility and programmability, remote monitoring and control, reduced maintenance, and higher energy efficiency.

Challenge: Most of the existing HVAC equipment also did not have cooling capabilities, which left critical spaces, such as the pool and gymnasium, without any cooling. Solution: A new dedicated packaged dehumidification system to control the pool deck’s humidity and temperature was installed along with a new water filtration system for the pool.

Outcome: The transformation of the Sportspark met the owner’s goals, as well as code and program requirements. With these modifications, the facility can better serve the Roosevelt Island community and surrounding neighborhoods.