Award-winning architecture comes in all sizes, a fact that is clearly illustrated by the 2007 Facilities of Merit. The 10 winners in the 27th installment of Athletic Business' annual awards program range from a 42,000-square-foot municipal aquatic center to a massive 568,000-square-foot college recreation center.

Chosen from among the 95 projects that appeared in the June Architectural Showcase issue of Athletic Business, these 10 state-of-the-art buildings — municipal and YMCA recreation facilities, wellness centers, and college athletics venues and recreation centers — demonstrate sound design principles in the areas of transparency, circulation, detailing, sustainability and appropriateness to their surroundings. So said our panel of seven leading sports and recreation facility architects and consultants, who selected the winners this summer at the conclusion of two days of deliberations in Chicago.

In early December, the architects, consultants and facility owners behind each Facility of Merit were feted at a reception at the Athletic Business Conference 2007 in Orlando, Fla.

Thanks to all those who by submitting entries helped maintain the program’s high level of competition, and congratulations to the 2007 Facility of Merit winners.

— Andrew Cohen

Winners of 2007 Facilities of Merit Award

	Project	Location	Architect
	Boll Family YMCA	Detroit, Mich.	SmithGroup Inc. - Detroit, Mich.
	Firstenburg Community Center	Vancouver, Wash.	Opsis Architecture - Portland, Ore.
	Kenyon College - Kenyon Athletic Center	Gambier, Ohio	Gund Partnership - Cambridge, Mass.
	Killarney Community Pool	Vancouver, B.C.	Hughes Condon Marler : Architects - Vancouver, B.C.
	Legends Community Centre	Oshawa, Ont.	Hughes Condon Marler : Architects - Vancouver, B.C. and Barry•Bryan Associates Ltd. - Whitby, Ont.
	The Ohio State University - Recreation and Physical Activity Center	Columbus, Ohio	Moody•Nolan Inc. - Columbus, Ohio
	Trinity College - Koeppel Community Sports Center	Hartford, Conn.	Sasaki Associates Inc. - Watertown, Mass.
	University of California, Santa Barbara - Recreation Center Expansion	Santa Barbara, Calif.	Sasaki Associates Inc. - San Francisco, Calif.
	University of Illinois at Chicago - Student Recreation Center	Chicago, Ill.	PSA-Dewberry - Chicago, Ill.
	University of Virginia - John Paul Jones Arena	Charlottesville, Va.	VMDO Architects P.C. - Charlottesville, Va.