University of Minnesota Field House
Reimagining an overlooked historic structure into a dynamic campus landmark
The transformation of the University of Minnesota Field House reimagines an overlooked historic structure into a dynamic campus landmark, using light, transparency, and materiality to make interior activity visible and create a safe, welcoming, and accessible environment. Through a collaborative, comprehensive planning and design approach, the project preserves the building’s character while redefining its identity, accessibility, and relationship to the campus community.
The reinvigorated 80,000-square-foot structure now offers a resurfaced, 6-lane, 200-meter track with multi-purpose courts at its center, bleacher seating for over 800 people, a press box, a 16,800 square foot synthetic turf field, training areas, and University’s first gender-neutral restroom concept.
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Client: University of Minnesota
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Size: 80,000 Square Feet
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Scope:
Renovation -
Services:
Architecture -
Key Project Contacts:
Keeping History Alive
Built in the early 1900s, the University of Minnesota’s Field House originally served as an airplane hangar in the state of Washington before being donated to the University of Minnesota in 1949, where it was repurposed as the school’s field house.
Despite its massive footprint and imposing brick façade, many at the university considered the field house to be the largest “unseen” building on campus. Unremarkable to passersby, it sunk into the background, featureless and reticent. 50 years of wear and tear had taken its toll on the timber building — it was quickly deteriorating and fading from the public eye.
Initially slated for demolition, then-University President Eric Kaler pushed to save the building, citing its history and character. Cuningham’s initial feasibility studies demonstrated that the century-old structure could be saved and transformed into a modern, flexible facility by addressing critical building failures, including abatement of the deteriorating cement-asbestos composite panel exterior, while upgrading the interior to support contemporary athletic use.
Making the Unseen, Seen
The Field House’s unassuming character was at programmatic odds with the flurry of movement going on behind its towering walls. When in use, the building was a whirlwind of athletic activity. As such, the remodeled exterior needed to do more than provide visibility into the activity within. The building itself needed to reflect that activity—expressing a sense of constant motion, just like its users.
First, strategic demolition and insertion of clear glazing at the masonry base wall creates intentional views and connections between exterior and interior. With 400-foot facades along the car-centric University Avenue to the north and the pedestrian-focused campus side to the south, the material expression and architectural intervention responds to the specific context, scale, and experience on each side of the building.
This intervention is paired with a strategically simple, cost-effective rainscreen concept that takes flat metal panels and alters their expression through a variety of folds and angles. Depending on the lighting, the season, the time of day, and the distance of the viewer, these panels seems to change shape and color, creating a sense of acceleration and deceleration along the long expanse of façade to those driving or biking past; a visual nod to the physical, kinetic activities happening within.
Equitable Access
Despite being one of University of Minnesota’s largest venues for major events, the Field House’s restroom facilities were among the most outdated and least accessible on campus. Cuningham partnered closely with Campus Planning & Management (CPM), Disability Services, and other University agencies to deliver the University of Minnesota’s first gender-neutral restroom concept.
Guiding conversations around best practices, policy considerations, accessibility, and user experience, Cuningham provided clarity and confidence for the University as it navigated a new approach to restroom planning. The new design offers adaptability across a wide range of events, reduces wait times, and reflects the University’s commitment to equity and accessibility.
