Spangler Center for Athletics and Community

Forging community, inclusion, athletics and learning

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Client
Potomac School
Location
McLean, Virginia, United States
Size
76,000 square feet
Status
Completed 2019

The Potomac School’s Spangler Center for Athletics and Community is a dynamic student health and recreation facility that brings the school’s unique mission to life. A national leader in PK-12 education, Potomac School infuses student health into every aspect of its education experience.

The Spangler Center is tangible evidence of that commitment to students. The center is conceived as a new place on campus to reinforce Potomac’s institutional beliefs and improve the school’s ability to provide a balanced educational experience that integrates academics, athletics and the arts within a diverse, inclusive learning community.

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A single two-story entrance is located at the southwest corner of the building. This anchors the main plaza and adjacent student plaza that step down to the surrounding nature trails.
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A single two-story entrance is located at the southwest corner of the building. This anchors the main plaza and adjacent student plaza that step down to the surrounding nature trails.
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Inside and out, the Spangler Center is designed to reinforce The Potomac School's strong brand and values.

A hub for athletics and fitness

The exciting building serves as a hub for basketball, volleyball, squash, athletic training and athletic health services, as well as a community gathering center. It is designed as a campus icon, integrated with the campus’s unique architecture.

The building empowers The Potomac School's more than 25 sports and 70+ teams at all different levels of competition. Thousands of students each year train, grow and compete in the building. It is a dynamic space focused on cultivating student-athlete success, and student health and wellness.

Key features include full-size competition courts, multipurpose fitness studios, an indoor walking and jogging track, social spaces, competition and practice squash courts, turf space, and extensive cardio and strength training areas.

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Empowering the school's long legacy of squash, the building features four competition courts, seven practice courts and fan seating areas.
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Recreation and athletics resources are abundant and designed to maximize access to natural light, stunning interior and exterior views, and student connectivity.
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Recreation and athletics resources are abundant and designed to maximize access to natural light, stunning interior and exterior views, and student connectivity.
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Recreation and athletics resources are abundant and designed to maximize access to natural light, stunning interior and exterior views, and student connectivity.

Testimonials

  • This building is a wonderful enhancement to our campus landscape. It’s both uniquely beautiful and uniquely Potomac.

    Dyana Conroy CFO and COO, The Potomac School
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The building's strong connectivity to the surrounding natural landscape creates remarkable moments where students feel both inside and outside at once.
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Environmental graphics amplify The Potomac School's brand and help enrich the student experience throughout the building.
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Environmental graphics amplify The Potomac School's brand and help enrich the student experience throughout the building.

Contextual campus icon

The Spangler Center is located as a campus icon amidst the school’s beautiful 90-acre campus. Its buildings are placed and shaped so that they appear to cascade down the rolling topography. Our concept for the new facility was shaped and inspired by the program, the site, the connections to the campus and the culture of the school.

The building impresses as a horizontal, glowing and integrated volume on top of the hill, with a flat roof held by structural wood “trees.” It connects to the natural campus environment by simultaneously embracing the geometry of the site and the geometry of the campus, nestling into the hill, embracing the nearby pond, being filled with light, and bringing the outside in. It also connects The Potomac School community by providing small intimate exterior and interior gathering spaces and larger, flexible, multi-purpose event spaces.

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The structural wood “trees” are part of a hybrid system composed of wood columns and beams.
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The structural wood “trees” are part of a hybrid system composed of wood columns and beams.
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The structural wood “trees” are part of a hybrid system composed of wood columns and beams.
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The wooden beams are both architectural elements and key to the building's impressive and sound structural system.

Testimonials

  • The Spangler Center will do so much for The Potomac School community. It will further enhance our interscholastic athletics program, offer activities that promote health and wellness, fuel school spirit, and foster the strong sense of community for which Potomac is known. This facility will be a tremendous asset for our students today and for generations of Potomac students to come.

    John Kowalik Head of School, The Potomac School
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