Koehler Complex Recognized as Top-Notch Facility

In its May 2012 issue, Mondo Spazio featured The University of Findlay’s Koehler Fitness and Recreation Complex for excellence in sports architecture.

Mondo Spazio is a digital magazine that showcases sport and commercial projects that focus on “respect for the environment, sustainability and the use of green materials; the large investment in research and development; and the immense human contributions that have made it possible.”

The new student recreation center has Mondo Sportflex rubber flooring for the track, Mondo’s Advance rubber flooring for the multipurpose courts and Mondo’s Sport Impact and Inlaid Platforms for the weight room floors. Because the facility is used for sporting events and other events such as banquets and concerts, the entire space needed to be versatile and multi-functional. Findlay worked with RCM Architects to complete the renovation, and they worked through several challenges including that of needing to put a level floor on top of a semi-level, four-inch concrete slab that still retained high levels of moisture because it was formerly an ice rink.

Through RCM, Kiefer Specialty Flooring, an authorized Mondo dealer and installer, worked with UF to identify sports flooring that would suit its purposes. However, personnel at UF already were familiar with Mondo flooring because the University had used it on previous sports facilities projects. In addition to the durability and easy, low-cost maintenance of the flooring, Mondo also was able to provide track flooring in a custom color to match UF’s trademark orange. The results look impressive and eliminate the need for lane stripes on the running track surface.

In December 2011, the American Sports Builders Association recognized the Koehler Complex for excellence in sports facility construction with an award for outstanding venue in the indoor multi-purpose facility division. The student recreation center, which opened in fall of 2010, includes a rock-climbing wall, game rooms, basketball courts, weight room, racquetball courts and Derrick’s, a quick-service restaurant.