The days of getting lost inside the maze known as the Philips’ women’s locker room are soon to be an event of the past. Starting this summer, recreational center users can look forward to a variety of upgrades ranging from lighting to cardio equipment, and, yes, locker rooms.

The Philips locker room division has been noticeably inequitable for some time and rumors of a women’s/men’s switch have increased in recent years. The men’s locker room is significantly larger yet only houses the basketball, swimming and tennis teams. The smaller women’s locker room must squeeze in 11 teams and is infamous for its “walk through the showers to get to the toilets” feature. Additionally, Philips has no locker space specifically for transgender students. This poor planning is about to change as the rumors become a reality.

Blueprints have been generated that relocate the women into the current men’s locker room, create a gender neutral area, place the men into the current women’s locker room and create an auxiliary training room in the locker area. Visitors’ locker rooms, officials’ changing areas, separate faculty space and team meeting rooms have all been factored into the new design.

The locker rooms are just the tip of the renovation iceberg. Cardio equipment will find a new home and the athletic training room will be moved to the ice rink.

When asked what spurred these changes, Athletic Director Vin Lananna explained that “the building needs to have some sort of climate control,” as well as the need to expand the capacity of the training room.

To meet these goals, the cardio equipment will be moved from its current location by the second floor eastern windows into what is now the multipurpose activity room. The Precors, treadmills, rowing machines and bicycles will all become part of the “fitness center.” The walls dividing the weight rooms and multipurpose room will be knocked down, increasing safety by giving the monitor a full view of all exercisers. As to the area vacated by the cardio equipment, Betsy Bruce, director of recreation, “imagine[s] it will become offices,” but mentioned the possibility of a lounge area.

Blueprints have already been drawn up for all the changes, although Lananna stresses that all plans are still in the architectural design status and therefore not yet finalized.

Besides creating a better fitness area, administrators also hope to upgrade the training facilities by renovating the office in the ice hockey rink. The space, which was used for storage by the ice hockey team, will now house an enlarged training room, proving more rehab room for athletes. The more spacious area could “potentially allow us to accommodate some of the needs of club sports,” speculated Lananna. “If they get prescriptions, it will allow us to say, ‘Here, use this.’”

The current training room area in Philips will be stripped of all benches and whirlpools and turned into a multipurpose room. Bruce hopes the space will continue to be used by a myriad of groups, including ExCos, karate-kai and yoga.

The one group that may not adjust as easily to the new space is the fencing team. The club sport traditionally holds practices in the current multipurpose room, which contains three lanes, ample safety space and appropriate equipment storage units. The converted training room would barely hold two fencing lanes and would lack the necessary storage space.

Foreseeing this problem, Bruce looked to the space in Hales Gymnasium as a solution. Hales already has seven lanes on the main gym floor and is used for hosting fencing tournaments. “Space-wise, it’s very advantageous,” explained Bruce.

The fencing team is excited for the large space but has some reservations about the move.

“There are certain modifications which must be made to [Hales], such as mirrors...and a way to set up a wall-mounted scoring device,” explained junior co-captain Mae Gackstetter.

Equipment storage may also be an obstacle. The fencing team competes in three different styles: foil, saber and épée. Each style requires specific equipment that must be stored in a dry room, repaired regularly and located in close proximity to the practice space.

“We have to figure something out at Hales,” said Bruce. “I think we can solve that problem.”

The proposed solution is to move fencing’s equipment into the Aikido club’s meeting room in Hales. The space is large enough to be shared by both sports and Bruce believes that the addition of a dehumidifier and equipment racks will result in a suitable storage space for fencing.

Allotment of Hales time still needs to be worked out, as the gymnasium has traditionally held indoor soccer leagues during the 4:30-6:30 time slot, which is the fenching practice time.

The plethora of movement within the athletic buildings requires more than just switching locker room signs and carrying fencing equipment to Hales, though. Lananna points to plumbing changes and wall construction and demolition as expenses that drive up the price of the renovations. The athletic department is still waiting for a final quote, but the costs are estimated to be around $200,000.

The locker room renovations and remade fitness center are just phases in a plan to create a more welcoming, safe and user-friendly recreation center. Brighter lights have been installed in the first floor hallway and the pool is scheduled to receive more energy efficient light fixtures this summer. Lananna views the change in space as having “less to do with intercollegiate sports than it does with general usage of facilities.”