Mind, Body, Spirit Integration A strong sports program and outstanding recreational facilities are essential components of the Tec’s vision of an integrated education, combining a focus on mind, body, and spirit. In the Master Plan, a new Recreation Center and a new Stadium will support this vision. When benchmarked against peers in the United States, the Tec’s existing sports and recreation facilities are very limited. In addition, the Stadium, with the departure of the professional Club de Fútbol Monterrey is now too large for the Tec’s needs, and being over 60 years old is in need of major repairs. In addition, the Stadium occupies an enormously valuable development site for the Tec. The Master Plan proposes relocating the stadium, resizing it, and making it a more complete expression of today’s needs for university sports teams. This relocation will make possible the construction of a state-of-the-art Recreation Center. Today’s recreation centers on university campuses are more than exercise rooms. They integrate physical and social wellbeing into the life of students, faculty, and staff. They respond to growing concerns about the health of students and employees, and expanded interest in fitness among students. They enhance a sense of community on campuses, and have a strong positive impact on recruitment and retention of students.
mind.body.spirit
The new Recreation Center will have a strong connection to the core campus, and to make a bridge to the Escamilla playing fields and the new stadium
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highly visible and welcoming, strongly supporting the principles of transparency, connectivity, and community. The Recreation Center will be sited to make natural connection between the core campus and the Escamilla playing fields, adjacent to the parking garage, and looking out onto new informal playing fields, built over new underground parking on the site of the old Stadium. Together with the new playing fields, it will make a green connection from the campus to the playing fields.
The new stadium is a dramatic improvement, is appropriately sized and integrated into the neighborhood, and includes all facilities needed to support competitive teams, while also supporting day-to-day activities The building will include many sustainable features, and will also be designed to be something of a social hub, with a cafe and lounges. In many ways it will augment or replace the functions of a student center.
The current facilities at the Tec are inadequate to meet this need. The rooms in the basement of the Student Center are severely overcrowded, the gymnasium, while a wonderful and architecturally important facility, is insufficient to support the range of Tec sports and recreation activities. The swimming pool is too small to be used for competition, while occupying a prime site for academic expansion.
The new Stadium, sited north of the existing Stadium, will be designed to accommodate up to 15,000 spectators, compared to the 35,000 currently accommodated. It is designed to be highly sustainable. By removing the track from the perimeter of the field, the stadium can be smaller and more intimate, enhancing spectator involvement and increasing the home field advantage. All team sport requirements are built into the facility. The stadium also includes many revenue-generating features, and is better designed for crown management.
The new 11,000 square meter Recreation Center will integrate an expanded gymnasium, an Olympic sized pool, and expanded exercise and recreation facilities under one roof. It will be
The design of the stadium responds to its urban setting, giving it engagement with the street and including opportunities for retail to serve the neighborhood.