Centura Health (Centennial, Colo.) and the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (Colorado Springs, Colo.) wanted to offer patients and students the opportunity to combine clinical practice with graduate and undergraduate education and research. The combination of these programs created a complete academic health center environment with a primary focus on “exercise as medicine.” The vision came alive in September 2020 with the opening of the 104,411-square-foot William J. Hybl Center for Sports Medicine and Performance in Colorado Springs.
The Hybl Center offers medical services including orthopedic sports medicine, sports medicine primary care, physical and occupational therapy, imaging services, and athletic training, as well as sports performance services including performance testing and assessment, sports performance training, and group fitness.
HOK (St. Louis, Mo.), along with RTA Architects (Colorado Springs), designed the facility with features including intentional “collision spaces” for collaboration among students, faculty, clinicians, doctors, patients, and athletes who will have access to a collection of equipment, including an altitude chamber, environmental chamber, nutrition lab and kitchen, biomechanics lab, and specialized training equipment for athletes with physical disabilities and tactical athletes.
Understanding that the facility would be a hybrid program, and a novel setting for health science education, research, and practice, the design team developed a program that incorporated each user’s point of view. That concept included “collision” spaces that created a blended experience for students, providers, faculty, and patients that enhanced the experience for all. Much of the design resulted from examining the sectional relationships between program elements and creating multistory spaces to encourage interaction. By entwining, rather than simply stacking the program elements, the building activates the collision spaces and enriches the experience for all.
Project details:
Facility name: William J. Hybl Center for Sports Medicine and Performance
Location: Colorado Springs, Colo.
Completion date: September 2020
Owner: University of Colorado Colorado Springs
Total building area: 104,411 sq. ft.
Total construction cost: Confidential
Cost/sq. ft.: Confidential
Architecture firm: HOK and RTA
Interior design: HOK and RTA
General contractor: JE Dunn Construction
Structural engineer: Structural Consultants Inc., now JVA Inc.
MEP engineer: MKK Engineers, now IMEG Corp.
Civil engineer: Kiowa Engineering
Landscape architect: Thomas & Thomas Planning now Kimley-Horn
Lighting design: IMEG
