The Novogratz Center for Athletics

“I can’t tell you how excited our wrestling, squash, and fencing coaches and players are at last to be in this spectacular new state-of-the-art facility.”

– David B. Harman, Former Headmaster, Poly Prep Country Day School

JLGA’s award-winning design for a 30,000 SF athletic center for Poly Prep expanded the school’s athletic facilities, creating a physical connecting to the existing gym and a visual link to the outdoor fields and campus green by maximizing facade transparency and sweeping views.

Through an unconventional interplay of broad planes and asymmetric angles, we created a bold, iconic, and sculptural presence. The new center offers facilities that match the prestige and caliber of Poly Prep’s athletic programs, honor the school’s 100-year-old history and campus, and give aesthetic expression to Poly Prep’s dynamic, forward-looking advance toward the future.

The program includes a full-court, reconfigurable gym, 11,000 SF wrestling area, 12,500 SF squash center with six international competition sized squash courts, including two all-glass courts, concessions, locker rooms, staff offices, and spectator viewing mezzanine.

The design of The Novogratz Center leverages abundant and strategically placed glass on the facade to create a level of transparency that focuses the center of activity at the campus core, offers a window into the athletics within, and invites all to watch or participate. The contemporary aesthetic of the center establishes a distinct and innovative presence, even as the building connects visually and physically to the school’s existing gymnasium—and the broader campus context.