Project Description
The Center for Health and Wellness is a 45,000 square foot academic and recreation facility that contains teaching spaces for the Department of Nursing and Physical Education, as well as recreation spaces for students, faculty, and the Eastern Long Island community. Inspired by the East End Long Island Pine Barrens where this campus is set, the Center for Health and Wellness’s custom-fabricated precast concrete panels and glass façade are modeled after abstracted representations of pine bark to highlight the importance of the natural environment in establishing the unique architectural character of Suffolk Community College and to create a building that evokes the neighboring stand of pine trees along the southern edge of campus. The Center for Health and Wellness extends the existing campus plan by creating a second campus quadrangle—the new recreation quad—that will house a future multi-purpose field. The center is organized around a sun-drenched double-height lobby and soaring rock-climbing wall that leads to a fitness room and locker rooms and is flanked by a gymnasium and a natatorium for recreation and NCAA competitions.