Malmstrom AFB Fitness Center
In today’s unique world, our Armed Forces need to meet every challenge head on. Malmstrom’s newly completed 55,000 square-foot fitness center with its state-of-the-art venue is designed to assist combat-ready Airmen and active-duty support personnel to maintain top physical fitness. The $12 million facility will eventually replace the existing fitness center constructed in 1957. The life for such a facility is approximately 50 years and as a result the 1957 facility could not adequately meet the needs of the personnel. Former Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper proclaimed that fitness “is not about passing a fitness test once a year … this is about our preparedness to deploy and fight … that makes fitness a daily standard.”
In partnership with L’Heureux, Page and Werner Architects and Talcott Construction Company, Tri-County Mechanical & Electrical, Inc. worked diligently, combining innovation, commitment, and professionalism through every phase of a project from preconstruction through project closeout for a successful project.
This new facility will increase the options for regular fitness routines during the extended winter months typical of a northern tier base. Contained within it is three NCAA regulation-size basketball courts; two that go end-to-end as indicated that can be divided down the center by a curtain when necessary. Bleachers in the new gym seat 850 spectators and are opened electronically.
On the main floor itself are the senior leader locker rooms, complete with sauna and steam room and regular use men’s and women’s locker rooms, also complete with a sauna and steam room. An expanded exercise and group physical training area is located between the two locker room areas while a much expanded weight room and resistance training area wraps around the men’s and women’s locker room area.
The first floor houses a new piece of equipment that is half treadmill and half climbing wall. Hand and foot holds attached to a vertical treadmill place people on what amounts to a simulated rock face. The machine moves only as fast as the climber, and its angle can be changed from a slope to an overhang. Unlike a treadmill, the treadwall also senses when a person is at the bottom of the wall, and stops so climbers don’t plummet (about a foot in distance) to the mat.
The effective integrated project management organization enabled the entire project to be completed with operational excellence and success.
