The Crocket Center for Athletic Excellence and the College of Health Sciences and Nursing’s Gordan E. Inman Center are two more examples of project success stories on Belmont University’s Tennessee campus.
Crocket Center for Athletic Excellence
Expanding on an already-planned parking garage topped with tennis courts, Earl Swensson Associates (ESa) designed the new Crocket Center for Athletic Excellence to encompass much more. The completed 45,820-square-foot structure offers a two-story lobby, a green roof, three basketball courts with electronic drop-down nets for volleyball, a conference room overlooking the court, coach and athlete support spaces, and separate lounges for basketball, volleyball and tennis, plus the parking garage. The innovative approach to the athletic facility earned a 2022 Learning by Design Outstanding Project Award.
Contributing to this award-winning project, Alexander Metals installed Tubelite wide stile entrance systems and center-set T14000 Series Storefront to create a welcoming and secure facility that transcends pure functionality. The natural light through the exterior openings is carried more deeply to the building’s core through Tubelite interior framing systems that allow for views onto the indoor court. In addition to the floor-to-ceiling interior openings, clerestory windows enrich the court’s daytime illumination.
Tubelite’s doors and framing systems were finished in Champagne Anodize by Linetec. This high-performance finish protects the metal and the light color enhances the natural beauty of the aluminum. Linetec maintains strict quality control procedures to ensure a very narrow range of color variation. Tubelite’s anodized aluminum framing systems also are recognized for their sustainable attributes, including earning a Declare Label as Living Building Challenge™ Red List Free. Anodize contains no VOCs and is an inert material that is not combustible and poses no health risks. The aluminum is 100% recyclable at the end of its long life on the building.
Gordan E. Inman Center, College of Health Sciences and Nursing
Unifying Belmont University’s health sciences and nursing programs, the new 215,000-square-foot Gordan E. Inman Center brings together related studies “from various makeshift back-of-the-campus locations to picture-postcard positioning at the front of the campus,” according to ESa. “In the university’s architectural vernacular, the structure looks as though it has always been in place as an integral component of the more than century-year-old campus.”
Defining the Inman Center’s exterior, Alexander Metals installed Tubelite Series 400 Curtainwall and storefront systems in a repeating pattern with varied dimensions. The main entrance showcases Tubelite wide stile doors with the openings above appearing narrower and taller than those at the top of the building. The corner tower’s window are wider in scale and crowned with octagonal portals above them, reflecting the decorative masonry. Linetec finished Tubelite’s aluminum framing in a Bone White 70% PVDF resin-based, high-performance architectural coating to blend with the surrounding stone.
