South Dakota State has a design group in place for the Dykhouse Student-Athlete Center, and this week it will go to work.
Representatives from the team of Koch Hazard Architects and HNTB - chosen out of three finalists by the South Dakota Board of Regents building committee - will be on campus Thursday and Friday to gather input and ideas from the coaches that will be housed in the new facility.
It's the first step in the design process scheduled to be completed by September so that the construction portion of the project - pending approval by the South Dakota Legislature - can go to bid, according to Jackrabbits athletic director Fred Oien.
"We don't want the information cold," said Dean Kattelmann, director of the SDSU physical plant. "The architects are supposed to get with the in-users and sense what their thoughts and needs are. They're not asking them to design the building, they're asking, 'What do you perceive your needs are?'"
Most of the needs for the north end-zone facility - which will house locker rooms, meeting rooms and offices for all of the athletic department's outdoor-based teams plus an academic center and training equipment - have been in p.ace since HNTB completed a preliminary master plan in 2004. Nonetheless, with the project moving forward, this week's meetings are an opportunity to break out what SDSU football coach John Stiegelmeier called "the Christmas list."
"You see a building on TV or other presentations about how a certain school built this, and you kind of take it for granted; that's what people do," he said. "And then you're a part of it. I think we're going to appreciate it a ton based on what we're coming from."
Although the specifics in terms of size and style remain fluid, the portfolios of the involved design firms offer examples of what the Dykhouse Center might become to look like. Sioux Falls-based Koch Hazard is responsible for the YMCA Family Wellness Center and SDSU's Performing Arts Center. Meanwhile, HNTB is considered one of the premier sports facilities architects in the country. Recent projects include Southern California's new basketball arena, football stadium renovations at Georgia and Purdue, plus a basketball training facility at Kentucky.
The scope of SDSU's student-athlete development center isn't nearly as large. But the school should be able to get more square footage for the money because building costs are lower in this part of the country, according to Gerardo Prado, an architect in HNTB's Kansas City, Mo., office.
Currently, $6 million - or about half of the ideal number - has been committed to the privately funded project. Unless another major donation is received before the end of the ongoing legislative session, SDSU will have to build the center in phases because it needs to gain Regents approval to move forward on any new construction.
Also, the athletic department's 25-year master plan includes renovations to Coughlin-Alumni Stadium and the creation of an indoor practice facility.
Blending all of these pieces together will be the designers' primary challenge.
"We're asking them to design the entire project with the consideration of how that building - if it is fully complete with all the components - would tie into the other parts of the master plan," Oien said. "The real trick is to design it so you can build $6 million of the project, but if the monies come in you go back and ask (the Regents for construction approval), and it looks like it was one building."
Representatives from the team of Koch Hazard Architects and HNTB - chosen out of three finalists by the South Dakota Board of Regents building committee - will be on campus Thursday and Friday to gather input and ideas from the coaches that will be housed in the new facility.
It's the first step in the design process scheduled to be completed by September so that the construction portion of the project - pending approval by the South Dakota Legislature - can go to bid, according to Jackrabbits athletic director Fred Oien.
"We don't want the information cold," said Dean Kattelmann, director of the SDSU physical plant. "The architects are supposed to get with the in-users and sense what their thoughts and needs are. They're not asking them to design the building, they're asking, 'What do you perceive your needs are?'"
Most of the needs for the north end-zone facility - which will house locker rooms, meeting rooms and offices for all of the athletic department's outdoor-based teams plus an academic center and training equipment - have been in p.ace since HNTB completed a preliminary master plan in 2004. Nonetheless, with the project moving forward, this week's meetings are an opportunity to break out what SDSU football coach John Stiegelmeier called "the Christmas list."
"You see a building on TV or other presentations about how a certain school built this, and you kind of take it for granted; that's what people do," he said. "And then you're a part of it. I think we're going to appreciate it a ton based on what we're coming from."
Although the specifics in terms of size and style remain fluid, the portfolios of the involved design firms offer examples of what the Dykhouse Center might become to look like. Sioux Falls-based Koch Hazard is responsible for the YMCA Family Wellness Center and SDSU's Performing Arts Center. Meanwhile, HNTB is considered one of the premier sports facilities architects in the country. Recent projects include Southern California's new basketball arena, football stadium renovations at Georgia and Purdue, plus a basketball training facility at Kentucky.
The scope of SDSU's student-athlete development center isn't nearly as large. But the school should be able to get more square footage for the money because building costs are lower in this part of the country, according to Gerardo Prado, an architect in HNTB's Kansas City, Mo., office.
Currently, $6 million - or about half of the ideal number - has been committed to the privately funded project. Unless another major donation is received before the end of the ongoing legislative session, SDSU will have to build the center in phases because it needs to gain Regents approval to move forward on any new construction.
Also, the athletic department's 25-year master plan includes renovations to Coughlin-Alumni Stadium and the creation of an indoor practice facility.
Blending all of these pieces together will be the designers' primary challenge.
"We're asking them to design the entire project with the consideration of how that building - if it is fully complete with all the components - would tie into the other parts of the master plan," Oien said. "The real trick is to design it so you can build $6 million of the project, but if the monies come in you go back and ask (the Regents for construction approval), and it looks like it was one building."
