Penn State University

Women’s Field Hockey Complex

“The Next Generation of Women’s Sports Facilities at Penn State”

A true reflection of Penn State’s commitment to women’s athletics has begun with the ground breaking of the new field hockey complex as of October 2022. The complex, which is located adjacent to Bigler Field, is the team’s first stadium with on-site facilities. The site requires attention to circulation and connection to the campus.

Crawford Architects’ design includes 1,200 field permanent chair-back and bench seating options, public restrooms, home, and visitor meeting rooms and restrooms, areas for the broadcast and writing media, spaces for coaches, a large hospital room that overlooks the field, upgraded lighting, site amenities, and a dedicated garden to their hall-of-fame Coach, Coach Char Morett- Curtiss. Key design constraints such as underground utilities led to the creation of a ‘bridge’ design, spanning the press box over the back half of the seating bowl to reduce the building footprint and provide covered seating.

This project is slated to be open for the 2024 Women’s Field Hockey season and will be a campus statement for women’s athletics for years to come.

CLIENT

Penn State University

LOCATION

University Park, PA

SIZE

1200-seat stadium

EXPERTISE

Master Planning & Concept Design, Architecture, Interior Architecture, Brand Activation, Signage & Wayfinding, Stadiums & Arenas, Higher Education

Crawford Architects understands the needs of Division 1 Women’s Athletics. They are tremendous collaborators, and I consider them to be my most trusted project advisors.

Char Morett-Curtis, Pennsylvania State University Field Hockey Head Coach