In N.Y., Michael Kimmelman wrote Columbia Univ.'s new $30M Campbell Sports Center is a "tough, sophisticated and imaginative work of architecture." The five-story, 48,000-square-foot sports complex "has coaches' offices, an auditorium and various meeting rooms," and anchors the Baker Athletics Complex. Campbell "makes a striking sight in Inwood, its facade a mix of irregular blocks and voids, quasi-Cubist, crisscrossed by exterior stairways." All sorts of "cuts, setbacks, overhangs and terraces animate the design" (N.Y. TIMES, 3/6).
CROSSING THE ATLANTIC: FAU officials and students last week met to discuss the school's naming rights deal with GEO Group, and a South Florida SUN-SENTINEL editorial stated while it is "possible a university president could have handled a controversy worse" than FAU President Mary Jane Saunders did last week, it is "not likely." It is up to Saunders to "have knowledge of all aspects, particularly any controversies involving a company with which she is doing business." The university "made a good deal ... even with the controversy." But Saunders needs to "explain to everyone why this is a good deal." To do that, she "needs to be better informed about GEO's history" (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 3/6).
COMMON WEALTH: In Richmond, Tim Pearrell noted Health Diagnostic Laboratory is giving $4M to the VCU athletics department as "part of a partnership to enhance athletics facilities." It is the "second major gift to the athletics department in a little more than a week." The partnership will "make each of the university's athletic facilities part of an 'HDL, Inc. Athletic Village,' including the Siegel Center." HDL will have "street signage at the facilities" (RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH, 3/6).
