PSU Stott Center Renovation + Viking Pavilion

The project encompassed areas of renovation and new construction, with the majority of new construction on the eastern, Park-facing half, including the new arena and a new exterior. This served to shift the center of the building’s use and activity to directly engage the Park and the heart of campus. In addition to the arena, new program areas include a diverse range of student gathering and study areas, general use classrooms, and a cafe.

The design creates a multi-use facility, with public lobbies, concourses, and lounges configured to be used daily by students and the entire campus community while also accommodating athletic competitions, symposia, and graduations. Unlike typical venues that sit dark between events, this facility is envisioned as both a campus and civic amenity that is always active with use.

The exterior design of the Viking Pavilion expresses the civic importance of the facility with a simple form that celebrates its unique nature as a multi-use community resource. In place of the existing blank brick walls, generous areas of glazing are carefully distributed to reveal the form of the arena within and to connect the energy and use of the building’s public spaces with the Park and campus beyond. Similarly, the site design and public spaces of the building are envisioned as a sequence of spaces that extend the space of the Park into the building and the life of the building into the Park.

Cladding the hovering upper volume of the arena within the building’s new main lobby is a wood wall stretching the entire length of the 200-ft-long space. Designed to evoke the hull of a Viking ship in honor of the University’s mascot, its undulating form of reclaimed is visible from the Park and campus both day and night.

Renovations prioritized spaces that benefit all student-athletes, including sports medicine, an academic center, and a new athletics weight room located in a repurposed natatorium. The project also included the creation of a new Vikings Hall of Fame located in the former main entry.