Racquet and Recreation Fieldhouse at Princeton University

Project Description:

The Racquet and Recreation Fieldhouse at Princeton University is an athletics and community hub that anchors the university’s new Meadows Neighborhood and reinforces the institution’s commitment to health, wellness, sustainability and athletic excellence. The LEED Gold-certified building establishes a new hub for athletics, recreation and wellness, and unites varsity racquet sports, campus recreation and student gathering spaces in a high-performance, sustainable environment. The facility serves as the new home for Princeton’s tennis and squash programs, featuring nine indoor tennis courts, nine outdoor tennis courts, 12 competition squash courts and two glass exhibition courts. Strength and conditioning areas, sports medicine facilities, locker rooms, coaches’ offices and a campus fitness center support varsity athletes, while providing flexible wellness amenities for the broader campus community. Architecturally, the building is organized as three distinct volumes connected by a central circulation spine that enhances wayfinding and visual connectivity. The primary “bar” building houses the main entrance, lobby and fitness center, creating an active social hub. Large-span tennis and squash halls are partially embedded into the landscape to reduce their visual scale and preserve views across the surrounding meadows near Lake Carnegie. High-performance design strategies — including a highly insulated envelope, daylighting and glare control, mixed-mode ventilation, radiant floor heating and connection to Princeton’s campus geo-exchange system — reduce energy demand while maintaining precise indoor conditions required for competitive racquet sports.