Building Wellness: WSC Wins 2024 Outstanding Facilities Award  

by Hayden Bergman

 

The buildings of a university campus are perhaps that school’s most immediate, most public form of communication, constantly speaking to and influencing the psyches of students, faculty, staff, and citizens.  

Architecture and design, then, take on the duties of language when it comes to space and place—they must be accessible,  understandable, functional, with a touch of style that never oversteps into the overwrought. Achieve this, and the entire community benefits.  

Any Gator or Houstonian who has seen or set foot in the Wellness & Success Center (WSC) of course knows that the building achieves all these things. However, validation from a recognized authority like the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA) is certainly an achievement, and that’s just what happened this year, as the WSC was honored with an Outstanding Facilities Award, one of only six universities to receive the distinction. 

“This recognition is a testament to UHD’s commitment to our community’s wellbeing,” said, Dr. Lisa Joyner, Vice President for Student Success and Student Life. “The [WSC] not only meets the unique design challenges posed by the bayous and our urban setting, but it provides the kinds of higher education experiences and amenities that students of today and tomorrow want.” 

Selection criteria for the Outstanding Facilities Award included such items as sustainability, innovative construction methods, aesthetic features, recreational program benefits, and the building’s correlation to the campus mission.  

And yes, one could wax poetic and say that the WSC is a marvel, a paragon at the intersection of public money, life, space, and policy.  

Or you can find out for yourself.  

Just head over to 1000 Naylor Street, climb up the steps, and walk inside.