April 2004

Briefly speaking: Recreation facility set to open

	The Activities and Recreation Center will be open for tours Picnic Day, April 17. (Debbie Aldridge/UC Davis)

The final touches are being put on the $46.5 million Activities and Recreation Center, set to open for tours on Picnic Day -- the campus's annual open house Saturday, April 17 -- and for use the following Monday.

"We're really looking forward to opening this building," says James Rodems, director of the facility, known as the ARC. "The students are really going to love this."

Building features

With sunlight streaming through its many windows, pale yellow paint on the walls, decorative lighting and high-tech flooring, much of the ARC looks more like an upscale office building than a gym.

The 155,850-square-foot building, funded by a fee students passed in 1999, includes a large fitness and recreation facility, which UC Davis students may use just by presenting their registration card. The remaining portion of the building, open to the public, will be used for campus events and meetings.

Connected to the 1970s-era Recreation Hall, the ARC has four basketball courts that can be converted to volleyball or badminton courts, an area for indoor soccer or hockey, racquetball and squash courts, an indoor track, martial arts and dance studios, a climbing wall and locker rooms with individual showers.

There is a fitness room with weight and aerobic equipment, but cardio equipment will also be located in small groups throughout the fitness portion of the ARC.

The ARC also has a ballroom, meeting rooms, work space for student clubs, a pro shop, a café and a computer lounge.

Student employee Jamie Gannon sets up equipment in the weight room of the ARC.(Debbie Aldridge/UC Davis)

Excitement growing

"The students are really excited about (the new facility)," says Jamie Gannon, an employee at Recreation Hall. "People keep asking me about it in class, saying, 'When is it going to open?' 'What's going to be in it?'"

The junior, majoring in animal biology, recently took on the role of ARC marketing supervisor, having been the student equipment manager at Recreation Hall since fall 2001.

She says Recreation Hall gets very crowded in the evenings, and she is looking forward to the more spacious, brighter ARC.

"I'm just excited to be able to use it on my days off, too," Gannon says.

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