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Beyond the Field: How FGMA Designs PK-12 Athletic Facilities that Build Community
Athletics have been described as the “other half of education.” At FGMA, they are designed that way.
Across the country, FGMA’s PK-12 athletic facilities reflect a consistent belief that these are not isolated amenities but catalysts for student success, community connection and long-term wellness. From sprawling suburban high schools to dense urban campuses and faith-based schools, the firm’s work demonstrates how thoughtful architectural design can elevate performance, purpose and community life.
Community Impact: Facilities as Civic Anchors
At Oak Park and River Forest High School, athletics became a unifying campus strategy. When the district’s agreement to use an off-campus track expired, FGMA helped bring outdoor programs back home, reworking the west campus athletic fields to incorporate full track and field facilities including a multi-sport synthetic turf field while transforming Lake Street fields into a baseball stadium. An intergovernmental agreement with the park district to use facilities across the street from the school for softball fields allowed the district to finally have a home on campus for all sports, while also expanding community access to facilities and strengthening community partnerships.
“For OPRF, this wasn’t just about updating their fields,” said Alyson Sternquist, Principal-in-Charge at FGMA. “It was about bringing programs back to campus in a way that supported equity, improved student experience and restored student and community pride.”
The shift reduced transportation time for students, simplified scheduling, got students home at more reasonable hours, and allowed families to gather in one place. In the first season using the new track and field facilities, the boys track team won state for the first time since the 1980s, a milestone that underscored the impact of thoughtful investment in campus infrastructure.
At O’Fallon Township High School, the Panther Athletic Complex, known locally as “The PAC,” operates nearly nonstop. Football, soccer, lacrosse, track and a nationally recognized band program share the venue. Designing for that intensity required careful attention to circulation, safety and large-event logistics.
“We had to think beyond just the field and bleachers,” said Bryan Mason, FGMA architect on the O’Fallon projects. “Sectionals and multi-team events bring thousands of people at once. Multiple ticket booths, separated visitor and home entries and clearly defined staging areas all contribute to safer and more efficient flow.”
By enabling schools to host large tournaments and regional competitions, these facilities elevate school pride and strengthen the surrounding community’s connection to campus.
Student Success: Designing for Belonging and Opportunity
Research consistently links extracurricular participation to improved attendance, higher graduation rates and stronger academic performance. FGMA’s design teams see that connection play out in their work.
“When you reduce barriers to participation, whether that’s travel time or facility inequities, you expand opportunity, pride and ambition,” Sternquist said. “Athletics are often the reason some students feel connected to school — what gets them out of bed in the morning. Designing spaces that support that connection matters.”
At Cornerstone Christian School in Texas, FGMA worked on a full campus transformation that includes expanded academic, fine arts and athletic spaces. The overall campus vision emphasizes growth in enrollment, community engagement and intentional athletic programming, reflecting Cornerstone’s commitment to whole-child development in both classroom and competition environments.
FGMA’s design at Cornerstone included a new concessions and restroom facility to better serve both home and visiting fans and is followed by a press box addition currently under construction. “Game day is a major event for this campus,” said David Polkinghorn, FGMA architect on the Cornerstone project. “The new facilities create a sense of place. They support athletes, serve families and reinforce school identity.”
Deep overhangs provide shade in the Texas heat and natural ventilation supports comfort while the architecture aligns with the school’s broader vision for community cohesion. The result is an environment that supports competition while welcoming the broader school community.
Wellness: Physical and Emotional Health by Design
Athletic facilities support more than competition. They promote lifelong wellness, and the earlier in life that children have access to them, the greater the impact.
At O’Fallon, synthetic turf installations extended seasons and minimized rainouts in a region known for wet springs. Expanded concessions, restrooms and visiting locker rooms improved comfort and hospitality. Secure circulation patterns and separated entries enhanced safety, a critical component of emotional comfort for students and families.
In downtown Austin, next to the UT campus, St. Austin Catholic School (PK-8) faced a different challenge: how to mix athletics and outdoor play with both the school’s academics and the daily Parish life on a compact two-acre site. The design Team of Page (Stantec) and FGMA utilized a distributed strategy across the school’s six floor levels — a ground floor courtyard for pre-school use, an outdoor learning garden on level three, a sixth-floor sports court, and a full gym/walking track accessible via a sky bridge from level two.
“In a dense urban setting, every square foot was essential for the school’s program needs,” said Rebecca Richter, Design Architect for FGMA. “Students are never more that one floor away from outdoor activities especially at the rooftop sports venue that has a panorama of the whole city.”
The broader St. Austin Parish and School Redevelopment was recently recognized with the Best Project Innovation Award at the 2025 Urban Land Institute Austin Impact Awards, a testament to how creative design and collaboration can address broader community needs while anchoring a dense campus.
Orientation, Efficiency and Sustainability: Performance at Every Scale
Athletic design requires precision. Field orientation must balance ideal orientations with site constraints. Protective netting and fencing must provide safety while remaining unobtrusive. Support buildings must be designed for both public and private use and planned for efficiency of service and circulation. Circulation routes must be designed to accommodate large crowds arriving and dispersing simultaneously but also be designed with safety in mind.
At OPRF, site planning maximized usable space on a very tight site, with each field accommodating multiple sports uses. The field work was also designed to accommodate current and future stormwater detention and geothermal well fields. At Cornerstone, shade strategies and passive ventilation improve comfort. At O’Fallon, distributed ticketing and clearly defined access points improve crowd control and operational efficiency.
“Designing for athletics is about more than aesthetics and the fields themselves,” Mason said. “It’s about understanding how people move, how they gather and how the space performs over time.”
Flexible staging areas support teams during large meets. Branding elements reinforce identity. Durable materials and low-maintenance systems protect long-term investment.
Building More Than Facilities
Across regions and school types, FGMA’s athletic projects share a common approach rooted in community connection, equity and performance. “When a campus can support large events, bring programs fully on campus, and help support the larger community's needs, it changes how that community sees itself,” Polkinghorn said.
Athletics may take place outside of regular school hours, but their impact extends well beyond the field. Through strategic planning and purpose-driven design, FGMA continues to create PK-12 athletic environments that strengthen schools, support students and enhance communities.
Frequently Asked Questions about PK-12 Athletic Facility Design
How can athletic investments support long-term wellness and sustainability?
Across the featured projects, design decisions directly influenced long-term performance. Synthetic turf at O’Fallon extended playing seasons. Stormwater planning and geothermal coordination at OPRF maximized site efficiency. Shade strategies and passive ventilation at Cornerstone improved comfort in Texas heat.
For decision-makers, this reinforces the importance of lifecycle thinking. Athletic facilities should be evaluated not only on upfront cost, but on durability, maintenance demands, environmental performance and year-round usability.
How can an architect help us evaluate on-campus vs. off-campus facilities?
As shown at Oak Park and River Forest High School, relocating programs to campus can reduce transportation costs, improve scheduling and strengthen student and community connection.
An experienced architect should analyze operational impact, equity considerations, site capacity and long-term expansion before recommending a solution.
What operational factors should be addressed early in planning?
High-use complexes such as O’Fallon’s Panther Athletic Complex illustrate the importance of:
- Crowd circulation and separated entries
- Ticketing and event logistics
- Safety and supervision
- Maintenance access and lifecycle costs
These considerations should be embedded in conceptual planning, not added later.
How do we ensure long-term value from our investment?
Athletic facilities should be evaluated for durability, season extension, stormwater management, shade and ventilation strategies and future infrastructure coordination.
Seek to clearly understand how sustainability strategies, site efficiency and lifecycle cost modeling are integrated into early design decisions. Long-term performance protects both student experience and taxpayer investment.
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