The Best Seats
In The House

The safety of a gym is only as good as the condition and configuration of the equipment inside of it. With a rash of unfortunate incidents over the past decade or so, a large cohort of facilities have been busy assessing and repairing or replacing equipment known to be the root cause a variety of safety hazards inside gymnasiums.

While much of these problems are overhead, such as ceiling-suspended basketball systems, light fixtures, and roof trusses, another large area of concern for operators are outdated dividers and partitions.

Many of these products were installed throughout the 1970s and 1980s and as one can imagine, leaps and bounds have been made in the design and development of such products since.

These existing partitions were often constructed using heavy materials and were rarely equipped with safety mechanisms such as two-key operation and sensors to detect obstructions when opening or closing.

As such, a large portion of what we do is assess the safety of these existing structures, which usually require replacement.

Working closely with our partners at Sparks@Play, headquartered in Maryland, our team was brought in to help assess the condition of some outdated retractable bleachers. Lying just outside of Washington, DC is the suburb of Annandale, Virginia and the Audrey Moore RECenter, the location where our efforts would be focused.

The community facility, managed by Fairfax County, features a number of amenities including an Olympic sized swimming pool, fitness room, pottery lab, racquetball courts, an indoor gymnasium, an outdoor skate park and outdoor tennis courts.

Inside the gymnasium was a set of outdated wooden retractable bleachers that were in need of replacement and it was our partners at Sparks@Play that were contacted by the county to get the job done.

Don’t let the words “synthetic turf” scare you away. Long gone are the days of the bright green fake grass. The synthetic turf options available today are made of high-quality products that actually look like grass.

Artificial turf is generally more economical due to a reduction in the maintenance required. This will vary depending on the frequency in which the turf is used however, synthetic turf offers many advantages in both indoor and outdoor sports facilities as outlined below.

Operating across three campuses in eastern Ontario, St. Lawrence College (SLC) is one of the province’s leading institutions when it comes to applied arts and technology. Home to roughly 7,000 full-time students, SLC specializes in programs such as applied science and computing, baccalaureate nursing, business, community services, justice studies, applied arts, health sciences as well as skilled trades and tourism.

As the institution continues to experience exponential growth, 2018 was the year that saw exciting projects come to fruition at the school’s flagship campus in Kingston. As part of the Hello Future Capital Project, renovations and a new build to the Student Life and Innovation Centre got underway after over 80 percent voted in favour of supporting the project in a student referendum.

Gymnasiums, once used solely for basketball games or gym class in public schools during the 1960s and 1970s are now becoming popular venues for social and community events. Over the decades, the large open space design of gymnasiums has been used as a makeshift setting for a large capacity banquet or an occasional awards assembly for the small local community. Fortunately, in the designs of today’s gyms, this multi-purpose concept has been embraced and modernized to accommodate an array of activities from sports and athletics to community events.

Making Your Facility a Winner

Whether you are interested in renovating and upgrading an existing gymnasium or creating a brand new one, solutions are available. With sports equipment, seating and lighting options available come in an array of designs ranging from stationary to foldable and even retractable, to allow space for other purposes. Gym divider curtains are also available to section off spaces for various events. Additionally, there is a wide selection of flooring options as well, all of which will help in making your facility a winner. 

With baseball season in our rearview and snow beginning to fly in much of the north, many of us are concentrating on finishing up football seasons or commencing various indoor sports such as basketball and volleyball.

While this is common for this time of the year, there are those who never seem to tire of baseball or preparing for the following season. With batting cages found in many outdoor environments, advancements in the design of these enclosed practice spaces are now allowing them to be moved indoors.

This was proven by our team recently when we received a phone call from Harriton High School located just outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. With one indoor batting cage already installed, the school was in need of a second one to keep up with demand from the big bats at the high school.

The advancement of technology is enabling us to do more than ever before imagined. We are referring to the potential available in the world of architecture and design with the use of virtual reality and augmented reality. This technology means that it is no longer necessary to stare at blueprints and concepts on paper to attain a grasp of what the finished product will look like. Instead we now have the ability to take a virtual walk-through of a project through the use of 3D rendering software and holographic display. 

Enhancing Athletic Facility Design Using VR/AR

Originally used for gaming, the technology used in head-mounted displays is now being used in architectural and design phases. In 2014 design professions began embracing the VR technology and now, new building designs, such as athletic facilities, can be virtually toured before construction begins. But it doesn’t stop there; once the building design is experienced through virtual reality, the layout and placement of everything from bleachers to exit doors to the scoreboard can be viewed using augmented reality. This is exactly what happened during the design phase of the St. Louis MLS Soccer Stadium, when a virtual and augmented reality tour revealed that the scoreboard placement would pose problems. The abilities of this technology are being embraced and becoming more available all the time.

Designed to offer students a place completely void of outside distractions, quiet rooms, sensory rooms and de-escalation rooms are now commonplace in many academic institutions across Canada and the United States.

Depending on their exact purpose, these types of rooms can be outfitted with equipment used to help stimulate the senses or can have nothing at all and simply serve as a quiet place for students who simply need some time alone. Constructed entirely using our custom padding department, these rooms often feature wall padding including custom cut-outs, door padding and customized floor padding to ensure the environment is also a safe one for those who use them.

The proper maintenance and care of gymnasium flooring will help preserve what was most likely a costly investment. The frequency in which a gymnasium floor should be cleaned is dependent on the amount of traffic involved.

While gymnasium flooring comes in a variety of coverings ranging from hardwood, linoleum, rubber and padded, knowing how to clean it safely will increase the life and look of the flooring for years to come. Here we will review the care of some of the most common floor coverings used in gymnasiums.

Looking directly into the backyard of Buffalo, New York, Fort Erie is one of the Niagara area’s fastest growing communities located along the banks of the Niagara River.

With a backstory that dates back to the War of 1812, Old Fort Erie attracts visitors from across the country looking for a historic re-enactment and a trip back to a pivotal time in Canadian history.

We had the pleasure of visiting this beautiful town after being enlisted by the District School Board of Niagara to design, supply and install a completely new seating structure for a local high school.