
Client
University of Houston
Project Location
Houston, TX
Opening Date
2016
Area
53,000 SF

Game Plan
On the day of the very first design meeting, our firm was given a simple yet rigorous charge: Design to Recruit and Prepare. Deliver spaces that recruit the finest basketball players in the nation to the University of Houston and give them the tools to prepare to become champions. That mantra drove every decision our design team made until the day the facility opened.
A Simple Directive
The teams share centrally located sports medicine, strength and conditioning, and support service facilities. Player development wings for both men’s and women’s basketball programs extend from the central “knuckle” and main entry.

The iconic three-story entry atrium element visually ties the player development, student-athlete, and administration levels together.
Developing Champions
As Coach Kelvin Sampson said when the facility opened, “Teams become better from October to March. For players to get better, it must be from March to October. We will have a place where our players can practice, work out, shoot, develop chemistry and improve their work ethic. They can do this, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year with this facility.”

Interactive flat screen displays for reviewing game and practice film are placed in multiple locations, including coaching office suites, for instruction wherever necessary.
Final Four Bound
Harkening back to the early days of design, as the Cougar basketball program was plotting its course for a return to prominence, our design team promised UH all the tools necessary to help it reach its goal. Just five short years after opening, the Guy V. Lewis Development Facility played a significant role in the Cougars participation in the 2021 Final Four.

The 53,000-SF facility consists of identical amenities for both men’s and women’s basketball programs, with each wing featuring a practice court, locker room, team lounge, and nutrition center.