Field House Underway Heralds New Era of Campus Enhancements

The new building will feature a fitness center, a track floor, multi-purpose courts, and more.

Middlesex is in for a transformational campus project: the much-rumored and long-awaited Field House with a projected opening during the 2025-26 school year. The building, which will augment the existing Atkins Athletic Center, will be a boon for athletes, faculty, staff, and the Office of Admissions: prospective students will be impressed by the facility. Hemming in the North side of campus and situated along Lowell Road, the Field House will take up approximately the footprint of the current Acorn parking lot. The scale of the investment is on par with that of the Bass Arts Pavilion–the Field House is the first big construction since the Covid pandemic and its completion is set to inaugurate the new strategic plan for Middlesex’s campus going forward. For members of the Middlesex community who are closely involved with the project, the Field House represents an opportunity to demonstrate Middlesex’s emphasis on athletic excellence: in the words of Craig Najarian, the Director of Athletics, the Field House will be “eye-catching” and “a difference maker.”

The new building will have a host of new spaces for the Middlesex community. Mr. Najarian says that the new spaces will be “not just for athletics, but for fitness, wellness, and performance.” The Field House will have several levels, featuring a fitness center that will complement the existing one, an elevated track floor where the track team can train, team rooms, and multi-purpose courts that can be used for basketball, volleyball, and potentially other sports. The track floor, because of spatial limitations, will not feature a full track. A main function of the Field House is that it will lessen the burden shouldered by the existing A.C., allowing for greater flexibility of use for fitness spaces–for example, the total fitness center footprint will be expanded, totaling 50% more space than what we currently have, reducing congestion. According to Darby, the Head Athletic Trainer, “locker rooms will still be in [the current A.C.] and all the programming in [the A.C.]” will remain there. Darby says that the Field House will include visiting team rooms and an “auxiliary [Trainers’] room that will be used for game days.” Head of School Bessie Speers lauds the progress made on the Field House, as the new building “not so that it will be shiny and new, but rather the ways that this space will support our mission in critical ways.” In terms of competitiveness within the ISL, Mr. Najarian expects that the Field House (and the planned renovations to the existing A.C. once the Field House is complete) “will give [Middlesex] the type of facility that will help us [to] be at our best.” The Field House–as an edifice to the strength of Middlesex Athletics–will also help attract athletic recruits. 

Middlesex has made a tremendous investment in the construction of this building, and fundraising for the construction goal, as of January 16th, is 63% complete. The fundraising for the endowment–donations to the endowment to be used to maintain and run the new building–is already complete. George W. Noble, the Director of Advancement, is “cautiously optimistic” that the remaining 17% of the construction goal can be achieved by 2025. According to Kurt LaCroix, the Director of Projects & Safety, the budget for the project is “based on today’s prices with some inflation.” Work on the Field House has progressed to the phase in which Middlesex and the architects decide on the “finalization of the layout; equipment spacing; the landscaping; the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing design, as well as the solar and geothermal systems,” Mr. LaCroix says. The Concord municipal energy source will mostly power the Field House, but to offset the strain on the municipality-provided power caused by this new building, solar panels and geothermal energy will make up the difference. There is already a model of the design–CBT Architects, the firm out of Boston–was commissioned for this project. CBT was the architect for Landry House, the BAP, and the Rachel Carson Center, and the firm has also been commissioned to renovate some of the dorms. Mr. LaCroix says CBT has a “proven track record,” and the Field House will not deviate from the overall design concept that runs throughout campus, stemming from the original Peabody & Stearns-designed buildings around the Circle. People overseeing the project, according to Mr. LaCroix, want the Field House, “although new, to look like it grew out of the ground” as one of the original buildings on campus.

As the first major construction since Covid, the Field House will kick off a new strategic plan for Middlesex’s next decade or so. Terry Cunningham, the CFO of Middlesex, and Mr. Noble consider the completion of the Field House as the first step in reconsidering how to best reinforce Middlesex’s values through renovation and construction of campus buildings. According to Mr. Noble, there are “plans down the road for renovating Ware Hall, renovating Orr Gymnasium, [building] more faculty housing, [and] looking at health and wellness” that will be incorporated into the strategic plan. The Field House is going to feature a lobby similar to the lobby in the RCC and the BAP–according to Mrs. Speers, the spaces within the new building will enhance “the way we go about our daily lives on campus as people.” According to Ms. Cunningham, parking will be moved to the bottom level of the Field House, taking advantage of the raised ground near the Kravis Pitch to raise the Field House above the parking garage. The entry to the Field House, via Pratt Lane, is where team buses will park. The entryway will be dramatically enhanced compared to the current drop off and pick up point in the Acorn lot, and Ms. Cunningham emphasizes the efficiency and welcoming quality of the new entrance for day students and team buses.

The Field House is the harbinger for a new era of campus enhancements. “As excited as I am about [the Field House,]” Mr. Najarian says he is also “looking at what we can do [to improve the current A.C.].” The Field House will include a deck overlooking the Kravis Pitch, providing a new vantage point from which to view soccer games–the Herd will value this auxiliary feature. The new building will seek to match the zeal and talent of Middlesex Athletics with architectural prowess, in a similar way that the RCC and the BAP matched the zeal and talent of students involved in the arts programs. Students are looking forward to the completion of this project–Mr. LaCroix affirms this optimism, imparting that “[The Field House] is going to be a great thing for Middlesex.” While the building will be a visual statement, at the crux of the Field House project–and all building projects at Middlesex–is the desire to meaningfully improve campus life and the student experience. In Mrs. Speers’ words, “there is a human aspect to all new building projects and Middlesex will always pay attention to people and programs first.”

George Thornton