The West Campus Athletic Complex at Wellesley College includes 4 sports fields for softball, field hockey, lacrosse, soccer and related practice/recreational use.  A new synthetic multi-use sports field is surrounded by an 8 lane running track suitable for invitational track meets.  

Other site buildings and structures include grand stand seating,  a restroom and storage building.  Design of the sports fields and buildings was carefully integrated with the complete environmental mitigation and wetlands reclamation project.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As part of a comprehensive plan to remediate a site once occupied by a paint factory, this project was governed by the policies and procedures of the DEP and EPA.  The goal of the project was to not only improve the quality of the environment, but to also implement a multi-use land management program that would enhance the mitigation process.  Athletic fields were chosen to support this goal and a softball stadium would be one of the showpieces of this newly reclaimed landscape.

 

The proposed 400-seat, handicapped accessible facility commands sweeping views of adjoining fields, wetlands, wooded hillsides, and the lake beyond.  The stadium, built into the grassy slopes that wrap around the softball field only a few feet below, maintains a low profile.  A wood deck canopy extends around the stadium to shade spectator seating.  Centered behind these shaded bleachers is a 200 sf. Press Box that overlooks the field.  Public restrooms are located on both sides of the press box.  Athletic accommodations in the facility comfortably shelter team members, store their equipment and provide them with a private restroom adjacent to their dugouts.  Beyond the dugouts are each of the teams’ separate bullpens.  A storage room is located in each bullpen for field maintenance equipment.  The surface pattern of the interlocked wood decking of the canopy is duplicated on the exterior surfaces of the stadium with wood siding.  Both the angular and linear repetition formed by these wood patterns, along with the aluminum bleacher, accentuate the simple and straight-forward structural design of this stadium.