ISU recreation facilities overview

Abby Christensen dives into the pool at Beyer Hall on Saturday, Jan. 29 in a meet against Nebraska.

Katherine Klingseis
August 15, 2011

With everything else students have to do, fitness may not be on the top of their to-do lists. However, it is important for a student to remember that he or she needs to exercise to maintain a healthy body and mind.

“Students ought to be using the fitness and wellness aspect of their life to balance out their life. So from an academic standpoint, it helps with their success,” said Michael Giles, director of recreation services. “If they’re just strictly so bogged down in the academic side of things, and they don’t take time to relax or relieve stress or keep their physical body well, then that will have a negative effect on their mental ability and their ability to stay focused.”

To help students maintain a healthy lifestyle, Iowa State offers several fitness facilities for students to use.

“As a registered student with the university, [access to the recreational facilities] is automatically paid for out of your activity fees,” Giles said. “And it gets you access to anything related to not just our facilities, but to also our programs, services and the whole nine yards.”

Here is an overview of the facilities:

Lied Recreation Athletic Center

“Lied is our main fitness facility here on campus, at the moment,” Giles said. “There are several amenities that make it a full-rounded recreational facility.”

Building information:

Built in 1990
Cost $13,000,000
236,201 gross square feet
Eight lane track, 50-yard artificial turf, 20 basketball courts, four volleyball courts, three walleyball courts, seven racquetball courts and eight badminton courts
Weight equipment, free weights, treadmills, ellipticals, bikes, climbers, rowing machines, yoga mats, fitness balls and an aerobics room
Men’s and women’s locker rooms, steam rooms and lounge area
Athletic Department weight room, training room and wrestling room

“[Lied] is a fully serviceable, programmable recreational facility,” Giles said.

Wireless internet

Beyer Hall

“Beyer is one of our older facilities here on campus,” Giles said. “For the most part it is a smaller facility.”

Building information:

Built in 1964
122,504 gross square feet
Three basketball courts, three volleyball courts, six racquetball courts, two squash courts, four wallyball courts, six-lane 25-yard competitive swimming pool and group fitness multipurpose rooms

“[Beyer Hall] offers our only main competitive swimming pool here at the university, in which we share that space with athletics,” Giles said.

Men’s and women’s locker rooms, coed steam room, classrooms and 67-seat auditorium
Outdoor stretching/callisthenics area and basketball courts
Home to ISU swimming, diving and gymnastics teams

State Gym

“State Gym, in and of itself, basically could be looked at as the original recreational facility on this campus,” Giles said. “It’s been on campus for a very, very long time.”

Building information

Built in 1913
Renovated in 1967
Currently under another set of renovations

“We ended up taking State Gym, gutting it basically, keeping the concept of what State Gym was originally built for and designed for, keeping the historical value of it,” Giles said. “But we had to make some updated changes.”

Expected to open in late fall 2011
Original gross square feet — 66,595
After renovations — an additional 92,320 square feet
Areas to be renovated: the gymnasia, outdoor recreation, clubs sports/multipurpose activity rooms, recreation offices/conference rooms, fitness assessment and equipment/laundry
Additions: gymnasia, fitness/free weights, aquatic facilities/recreational pool, jogging/walking track, group exercise/multipurpose activity rooms, recreation locker rooms, main lobby/control deck, climbing/bouldering wall and drinks/snacks/vending machines.

“The expansion takes us into the more updated and modern aspects of what a recreational facility could offer,” Giles said.

Forker Building

Building information:

Built in 1940
Addition built in 1972
138,703 gross square feet
Three basketball, six volleyball and eight badminton courts; a six-lane, 25-yard pool and a dance studio
Classrooms
Eight outside tennis courts

Ice Arena

Building information:

Located at 1507 Gateway Hills Park Drive
Built in 2001
Ice rink
Locker rooms, restrooms, concessions and a party room
Price of admission: $5 for ages 16 and above
Price of skate rental: $2.75
Prices for ISU students on Wednesday evenings (from Sept. through April) from 8:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.: admission is $3 and skate rental is $2
Home of Cyclone Hockey

Outdoor areas:

“In addition to all the indoor recreational space we have, we also have about 100 acres worth of outdoor recreational space,” Giles said.

Maple-Willow-Larch Recreation Field

Area information: