By Jennifer Tulley

A place where movement, reflection, and community converge, the new Wellness, Athletic听& Aquatics听Center for Convent & Stuart Hall, designed by TEF, advances the mission of a Sacred Heart education through its focus on students鈥� total development.听听Centrally located along one of the City鈥檚 major east west corridors, the 66,000-square-foot, four-story complex is designed to integrate wellness into the daily life of roughly 1,200 students from kindergarten to 12th grade, while expanding athletic, physical education and gathering spaces for the school community.听听

Founded in 1887, Convent & Stuart Hall is an independent K-12 school rooted in the Sacred Heart tradition of Catholic education, offering an educational model that听utilizes听both single-sex and coeducational learning environments. Across all grade levels, instruction is anchored by a common curricular commitment to educating the whole student: 鈥渕ind, body and spirit.鈥� Expanding the school鈥檚 athletic facilities to meet current and future program demands is an institutional initiative focused on elevating students’ physical and holistic development. Together, these pedagogical and strategic goals, along with a sensitivity to the compelling student mental health crisis nationwide, led to the project鈥檚 conceptualization.听

Maximizing Program on a Constrained Site听

Despite the fortune of finding a location roughly within a mile of the school鈥檚 two campuses, with front door access to public transit, a number of notable site constraints added to the project鈥檚 complexity. The Center had to be designed around an existing two-story mixed-used building at the northeast corner of the property.听听The rest of the site, occupied by a concrete structure originally designed as a car showroom, proved infeasible for reuse, given the compact site and substantial scale of the project鈥檚 main program components: a gymnasium and natatorium, stacked one above the other, as well as educational spaces.听

The new Center is organized around these three program zones. The partially-below grade natatorium supports swim instruction for all ages, with aquatics programming including competition swimming, water polo, and more. Above it, the double height gymnasium provides a collegiate-size court and seating for more than 500 spectators.听听Instructional spaces 鈥� for fitness, nutrition, meditation and wellness education 鈥� are adjacent to the gym. In addition, an enclosed rooftop turf field further expands the school鈥檚 athletic program. 听

The sloped site, while not uncommon to the City鈥檚 infamous topography, also affected the entry elevation and exiting strategy. The natatorium was carefully designed to be sufficiently below grade in order to meet code-requirements for ground-level egress of younger students, with three general exits at pool level and two additional stairs dedicated to kindergarten through second grade students.听听

Harnessing Daylight听

Natural light was a critical priority. Studies continue to validate the importance of daylight to improving sleep, concentration, physical performance, and overall well-being of students and athletes alike. Ample glazing across the building鈥檚 entire north, street-front facade brings abundant daylight into the building. Its expression of horizontal bands 鈥� featuring a meaningful pattern language of glass and aluminum panels on the first and third levels 鈥� articulate the Center鈥檚 three primary program zones, while providing a balance of visibility and privacy. Glazing along the interior walls

overlooking the gymnasium and natatorium also pull essential daylight into the large internal volumes, the latter enhanced by听additional听skylights along the west side of the building. Educational spaces are strategically听located听along the building鈥檚 perimeter to maximize exposure to daylight and the surrounding neighborhood.听听听

Generous circulation corridors featuring furniture and seating options encourage informal human connection while flexible academic spaces听support a听variety of social activities.听听

Nurturing Connection and Belonging听

Transparency also plays a key role in connecting the life of the school to the city and students to each other. According to the , creating an environment where students feel seen, included, and part of a community is essential to supporting mental health and听well being. The welcoming lobby, flexible gathering areas, and range of uses are some of the design features that reduce isolation and strengthen social relationships that are closely tied to emotional well-being, resilience, and school engagement.听

The Center鈥檚 built-in flexibility, to accommodate large assemblies and informal gatherings, strengthens connections across the student body and the broader school community. Generous circulation zones integrate a variety of furniture and seating options to encourage informal interaction and peer support, while visual and physical connection through transparency between major program spaces facilitate shared experiences. Providing an array of spaces for diverse modes of interaction was also a priority. Spaces like the classroom with a demonstration kitchen and the studio for yoga, dance, and meditation provide students with a multitude of options. When students can choose how and where to connect, the building can support individual social confidence and community building. 听

Environmentally Responsible, Connected to Nature听

The LEED Gold targeted, all electric building leverages biophilic and sustainable design strategies to听optimize听student health.听The design team prioritized biophilic warmth听through the use of听wood and organic forms in the development of the Center鈥檚 interiors.听Curved walls intuitively guide circulation around major program areas, and a muted, nature-inspired color palette, originating from nearby landscape elements including ocean, sand, and听sky, support听a calm backdrop to the diverse activity within the building.听听听听

Indoor air quality, essential to health and comfort 鈥� and a notorious design challenge for natatoriums across the city鈥檚 microclimates 鈥� was a critical factor. A robust mechanical and electrical system exhausts chloromines from the deck level and leverages heat recapture, to warm the pool only at night, allowing it to gradually cool down during the day to conserve energy. Additional green features include solar panels, two bioretention areas, one elevated on the first floor, as well as rooftop plantings to slow stormwater drainage. The majority of interior materials are red list free or approved and have EPDs (environmental product declarations) and/or HPDs (health product declarations). 听

The project is slated for听completion听2029.听听

Jennifer Tulley is Principal In Charge at TEF Design.

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“We are thrilled to be moving forward with the new Miwok Aquatic and Fitness Center on our Indian Valley Campus,” said Isidro Farias, director of capital projects at COM.

A design-build project by long-time partners Blach and ELS Architecture and Urban Design, the state-of-the-art building will house a fitness center including cardio equipment, weights and group fitness spaces. Locker rooms, classrooms, offices, a lobby and storage space will surround the Miwok Center. Adjacent, outdoor Olympic-size and lap pools will serve COM as well as the aquatic needs of the community for swim classes, team meets, recreation and youth camps. Using Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards, the project has the potential to earn zero net energy (ZNE) consumption. Construction of the Miwok Center is anticipated to complete by summer 2020.

“We are happy to partner with our friends at ELS to bring College of Marin a facility that will meet so many needs in one space. From enhancing the school’s overall educational and wellness offerings to bringing high-caliber fitness and recreation options to the community, we look forward to the next exciting phase of building the Miwok Aquatic and Fitness Center,” said Kim Scott, vice president of Blach Construction.

Established in 1926, College of Marin has campuses in Kentfield and Novato, offering students of all ages affordable access to a variety of credit and noncredit courses as well as community education classes for lifelong learning. Founded in 1970, Blach Construction builds structures throughout the Greater Bay Area and Central Coast, including a broad cross-section of corporate, mixed-use, educational and institutional building types. Blach Construction is headquartered in San Jose, Calif. and operates a branch office in Monterey, Calif.

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