The University of Arkansas had a desire to strengthen the identity of the men and women's basketball program through locker room renovations in Bud Walton Arena. Though the team has a strong history, the university leadership wanted a more holistic design to inspire and focus their players—a space in which they could take pride and feel ownership. The facility, in this sense, became an extension of the court. The new players’ lounges, locker rooms, and nutrition bars are connected by a potent red ceiling plane and court floor, which unify the team’s pre- and post-game activities in the spirit of the game itself. A symbolic “A” highlights the idea wall at the heart of the strategic center in the men's locker room, a space devoted to the hands-on, tactile experience of working through play concepts. A new basketball logo can be seen throughout the space that artfully melds the seams of the basketball form with the bladed spine of the team’s hog mascot. The auxiliary walls are an extrapolation of the court’s skin that breaks away at specific points to reveal a swath of energizing Razorback red underneath. This analog construction system also appears along the main wall of the locker rooms. Our office fabricated a mock-up of this system in order to convey the playfulness and unity that it could bring to the renovated space. The men's locker room design began in July 2012, and we worked closely with the university, players, and contractors to complete the design and construction by October of the same year. The women's locker room was designed and completed shortly after that.
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