University of Texas at Austin Caven Lacrosse and Sports Center at Clark Field

Increasing Student Use of a Historic University Sports Venue

Austin, Texas

The Caven Lacrosse and Sports Center provides a championship-quality venue for men’s and women’s lacrosse activities, as well as an informal venue for the campus’ 52,000 students.

We maximized the field surface area through careful grading in order to respect the floodplain. Retaining walls were strategically placed to provide a backdrop for the venue.

We integrated sustainable strategies into the fields’ design, including LED fixtures and zoned lighting to save power, recycled pavement, use of native and drought-tolerant plants, and tapped into the existing water supply to avoid toxic fertilizers.

We carefully chose the track and field lighting to provide a safe environment without harsh glare, as well as premium field lighting to support top-quality athletic competitions.

We incorporated a wireless scoreboard controller to our design in order to ease use during competitions.

The new 110-foot bowstring truss pedestrian bridge crosses Waller Creek, improving the connection to the general campus and providing a direct link to the Recreational Sports Center to the west.

The sports center’s support building includes day-use lockers, two unisex restrooms, a filtered water bottle filling station, informal recreation equipment and sports club gear, and storage areas for maintenance equipment.

The exterior of the support building is designed to be compatible with the adjacent residence halls while also serving as a backdrop for the field.

Having been a part of the University of Texas at Austin campus for more than 100 years, the 2.5-acre Caven Lacrosse and Sports Center at Clark Field is a historically significant venue. In order to maintain the legacy of this field as a central hub for campus activities, we renovated the existing intramural field, incorporating a new synthetic turf field with an exercise track.

70%

increase in student participation

Our design included features to make the field more accessible to students and more suitable for a larger variety of activities. According to the University, overall student participation and use has increased more than 70 percent since our design was implemented.

Owner/Client

University of Texas

Services

Architecture

Markets

Education

Regions

Southwest