Princeton Class of 1986 Fitness & Wellness Center
As the Princeton University rapidly grows and evolves, this precinct of the historic campus which includes the storied Dillon Gymnasium building has recently been transformed to improve the fitness and wellness facilities available for students and faculty.
New steel insertions frame the entries and thresholds between various fitness and workout spaces, some occupying the previously under-utilized squash courts within the storey-high Warren trusses (this monumental truss structure enables the existing quad gymnasium to span over a column-free Olympic size swimming pool below), while others occupy a newly built addition to the south that forms the third facade of a newly formed courtyard condition containing basketball and tennis courts.
The addition’s glazed fitness space, sits on a solid foundation of brick, and is veiled in a perforated darkened bronze brise-soleil that shades the interior space and frames views from the interior back to the surrounding collegiate gothic campus buildings.
This project was photographed over the course of September and October 2025 and was featured by Architectural Record in March 2025.
Architects:
MJMA and DIGSAU
Landscape Architects:
Field Operations
Location:
Princeton, USA
“The addition pays homage to the original without replicating its Collegiate Gothic style...”
— Patrick Templeton for Architectural Record, March 2026
“The addition’s roof is ringed by a corrugated brise-soleil of darkened bronze panels, which hang down to shade the window walls. These scrim-like panels are perforated in a complex water-jet-cut dot pattern that was derived from overlapping the shapes and profiles of the Gothic windows, stonework, and string courses.”
— Patrick Templeton for Architectural Record, March 2026
