CLAREMONT, Calif.—Pomona-Pitzer College, one of Southern California’s Claremont Colleges, now boasts a shiny new athletic center thanks to the work of the Golden State’s own C.W. Driver Companies, which has operated in the state for over a century.

The $43.5-million Rains Center for Athletics, Recreation & Wellness entails 95,000 square feet of up-to-date training facilities for the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens teams. Some parts of the building entail reconfigured space from a former athletic facility that stood on the site. The new building hosts many gyms, modern locker rooms as well as fitness center and other training areas. The Rains Center will be home to intramural and varsity athletic events, as well as phys-ed classes, and be open to recreational usage by students, staff and faculty.

As envisioned by SCB Architects, the Rains Center’s design motif features extensive use of glass, with a facade comprising concrete and fiber cement panels. Inside, the athletic center features polished concrete, which makes the facility more purpose-built for what it needs to house.

Thanks to such energy- and resource-efficient measures as water reduction and indoor environmental quality, the Rains Center has been awarded LEED Platinum Certification.

While the new gyms will provide Sagehens with up-to-date practice and competition facilities, the plan jointly executed by SCB and C.W. Driver entailed keeping the older Voelkel Gym as part of the Rains Center’s offerings. Dave Amundson, project executive with C.W. Driver, said that melding old with the new required extensive concrete, foundational and structural steel seismic upgrades at Voelkel, while simultaneously constructing new facilities adjacent—then connecting them together.

“The most interesting aspect of the project was paying homage to the past in the new facility,” Amundson said in a statement to School Construction News. “The design incorporated the demolished Memorial Gym wood athletic floor component into the new construction. We salvaged a large area of the Memorial Gym wood floor and used it as the facing of the new building reception desk and as seating around the grand stair in the lobby.”

Amundson and his team were also to salvage the center court and incorporate that into the Rains Center’s new matrix, thereby marrying new construction with the long and storied history of athletics at Pomona College.

“This new facility provides many improvements and upgrades to benefit the Sagehen sports community,” added Amundson.

C.W. Driver’s other educational construction projects throughout California include CSU San Bernardino’s Coyote Village and Coyote Commons—also with SCB Architects—MiraCosta College’s Chemistry & Biotechnology Building, Cal Poly Pomona’s Student Services Building and Chapman University’s Keck Center for Science and Engineering.

The firm has been ranked by Engineering News Record as one of the Top 150 General Contractors and Top 100 Construction Managers. Their offices in California are located in Los Angeles, Rancho Cucamonga, Anaheim, San Diego and Carlsbad.

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CLAREMONT, Calif.—C.W. Driver Companies recently broke ground on the expansion of Pomona College’s Athletic and Recreation Center. The construction cost of the project is $43 million. Located in Claremont at 220 E. 6th St., the new 95,000-square-foot facility will provide additional space for the Pomona-Pitzer athletics program, while boosting health and wellness for all members of the community. C.W. Driver Companies is partnering with SCB Architects, Inc. on the project.

The project will be a mix of renovations and new construction and introduce 15,000 square feet for additional training and weight rooms, dedicated areas for cardio exercise, athletic department offices, expanded locker rooms and more. The Athletic and Recreation Center is anticipated to reach completion by Fall 2022.

Situated at the heart of the campus, the new sports facility and main entrance will serve as a campus focal point featuring an expansive arrival lobby and prominent display for the Pomona College Athletic Hall of Fame. Enhancements to the center will include expanded varsity and faculty locker rooms, a strength and conditioning center, additional training and conditioning space, an all-new, two-court practice and recreational gymnasium above the fitness area, three new team meeting rooms, individual offices for coaches and administrative staff and equipment storage space. To enhance the recreation, intramural and physical education programs, new locker rooms, a cardio and fitness center, additional studio and teaching space and shared access to new gymnasium facilities will be added.

“We’re honored to partner with Pomona College to help imagine a state-of-the-art sports complex that serves the university’s growing varsity and athletic programs,” said David Amundson, project executive at C.W. Driver Companies. “The new Athletic and Recreation  Center is designed to be a highly sustainable and modern facility that serves as a central hub for students, student-athletes and faculty alike to train, learn, compete and build community through sportsmanship.”

The new center will incorporate a modern collegiate style, including precast concrete and fiber cement panels on the exterior and polished concrete and high-performance finishes on the interior. To increase transparency and convert an inward-focused building into a welcoming, community-driven sports center that prioritizes indoor/outdoor connections, the design will include the strategic use of glazing to provide ample access to outdoor views and natural light. The center will also introduce multiple outdoor patios, allowing fresh air to filter throughout the building and offering students and staff the option for outdoor meeting and activity space.

The Athletic and Recreation Center will be designed to achieve LEED Gold Certification. Key green building and sustainability features include daylight shading devices to mitigate solar heat gain, HVAC systems that prioritize natural ventilation, rooftop photovoltaics, solar hot water and more.

“We have experienced tremendous growth and an unprecedented level of success with our varsity athletics and recreational sports programs over the years,” said Miriam Merrill, director of Pomona-Pitzer Athletics. “Rains Center, home to Pomona-Pitzer’s athletic programs since 1989, was a pillar of our college and local community. With the support of C.W. Driver Companies, we’re confident that we can transform the complex into a facility that strongly signals our commitment to health and wellness and supports generations of student-athletes to come.”

Founded in 1887, Pomona College is a private liberal arts college offering 48 majors in the arts, humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. The campus is located about 35 miles east of Los Angeles and stretches across 140 acres in the small, suburban city of Claremont.

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