The new VCU Basketball Development Center is designed as a place of pride and inspiration for players and coaches, as a source of amazement for fans and donors, and as an awe-inspiring point of reassurance for young recruits. Located on West Marshall Street, north of the Siegel Center in downtown Richmond, the new Basketball Development Center provides both the men’s and women’s programs with state-of-the-art facilities in one 62,000 square foot, two-story building that aids in recruiting and player/team development. The building is at once fresh and also timeless – a comfortable place to play and work every day.
The building is characterized by a strong roof line that unifies the various building elements and defines a block-long glass building volume. Smaller building elements “slide” under this unifying roof and engage the glass volume, breaking down the building scale without denying daylighting through the primary glass clerestory. The facility works to function as a ‘good neighbor’ by maintaining a scale that is in keeping with the Carver neighborhood and by using brick book-ends where the glass and metal-shingle building faces older residential buildings. (VMDO Architects)