Case study · Seattle, Washington · 2023–2024

Seattle University’s athletic performance center, designed, equipped and installed

The Wright Family Athletic Performance Center is the training home for Seattle University’s Division I student-athletes. Working with the university’s head of athletic performance and the athletics director’s staff, BeneFitness founder Brad Boggs designed the layout, specified the equipment and custom storage, procured the Ecore flooring, turf and inlaid logo drop zones, and saw the room through installation.

3D rendering of the Seattle University weight room with a Home of the Redhawks brand wall, double half racks and a black turf lane with red hash marks
The approved 3D design. The finished room is shown further down the page.
Fall 2024Opened to Redhawk student-athletes
~5,300Square-foot training floor, about 87 by 61 feet
87 × 30 ftCustom black turf with red hash marks
5 × 8 ftInlaid logo drop zones along the rack line
Division IBuilt for teams across Seattle U Athletics
1 partnerDesign, flooring, equipment and installation

The brief

A Division I weight room built around how the Redhawks train

Seattle University wanted a dedicated strength and conditioning home for its student-athletes as the first step in its athletics facilities plan. The Wright Family Athletic Performance Center opened in fall 2024 and serves Redhawk teams across the department, along with the university’s kinesiology program.

The room is one long, open space of roughly 87 by 61 feet. The performance staff needed it to run full-team lifts, sled and speed work, and small-group sessions at the same time, with the program’s identity obvious the moment athletes walk in.

Brad worked side by side with the head of athletic performance and the athletics director’s staff from the first layout in 2023 through installation in the summer of 2024.

Entrance to the Wright Family Athletic Performance Center at Seattle University, with black turf and racks visible through the doorway
The entrance to the Wright Family Athletic Performance Center.

What BeneFitness did

One partner from first layout to installed room

01 · Design & layout

Planned the room in zones

Laid out the rack line, turf lane, strength and storage zones around team sizes, coaching sight lines and traffic flow, then rendered the room in 3D for sign-off.

02 · Flooring

Procured the Ecore flooring

Specified and procured Ecore Athletic performance rubber for the main floor, 5 × 8 ft inlaid logo platforms at the racks, and 87 × 30 ft of custom black turf with red hash marks.

03 · Equipment & storage

Equipped every zone

Double half racks with custom logo shrouds, a storage wall with cable columns and a lat pull/low row, strength machines, and logo benches, dumbbells and bumper plates.

04 · Installation

Delivered and installed

Staged the order, sequenced the flooring ahead of the equipment, and saw delivery and installation through on the university’s calendar.

Planned in 3D first

Weight room design that starts with the training plan

Before a single rack was ordered, the whole room was modeled and rendered. Coaches could walk the space, test the flow and sign off on every detail: which way the racks face, how far the turf runs, where storage lives, and how the Redhawks brand reads from the door.

3D rendering of the full Seattle University weight room looking down the turf lane toward the rack line
Top-down 3D floor plan of the Seattle University performance center showing racks, drop zones, turf lane and strength zone
Top-down plan: rack line, drop zones, turf lane and strength zone.
Overhead 3D view of the rack line, drop zones and turf at Seattle University
3D rendering of the leg press and strength area beneath the Seattle U Athletics wall graphic
3D rendering of glute-ham developers, benches and plyo boxes beside the turf lane

Design to reality

The finished room matches the design

The renderings were the build plan, not mood boards. The installed room follows them closely, from the rack spacing and turf lane to the logo inlays and storage wall.

3D design3D rendering of the Seattle University rack line with inlaid drop zones
As builtFinished rack line, plyo boxes and black turf lane in Seattle University's performance center
The rack line and turf lane, August 2024.
3D design3D rendering of a drop zone platform with the Redhawk logo inlaid
As builtInstalled Redhawk logo inlay in a drop zone platform at Seattle University
A Redhawk logo inlay at the rack line.
3D design3D rendering of the storage wall with cable columns along the turf lane
As builtInstalled storage wall with cable columns beside the turf lane at Seattle University
The storage wall and cable columns beside the turf.

Flooring

Weight room flooring planned as part of the training system

Flooring was specified with the equipment, not after it. BeneFitness procured the full package from Ecore Athletic, a premium performance flooring manufacturer, and placed every inlay and turf line on the drawings before anything was cut. Learn more about our equipment and flooring service.

  • Main floor. Ecore performance rubber across the training floor, chosen to absorb impact and hold up to heavy daily team use.
  • Inlaid drop zones. Custom 5 × 8 ft platforms set into the floor at the rack line, each carrying the Redhawk logo.
  • Custom turf. 87 × 30 ft of black turf with red hash marks over a rubber shock pad, for sled pushes, sprints and agility work.
3D rendering of the custom black turf with red hash marks running the length of the Seattle University weight room
Installers fitting logo drop zone platforms into the Ecore floor at Seattle University
Fitting the logo drop zones.
3D rendering of the turf lane running beside the rack line
Ecore flooring and inlaid platforms installed before the equipment arrived
Racks, plyo boxes and red-lined turf in the finished Seattle University weight room

Racks, strength and storage

Every zone equipped, with nothing left on the floor

A line of double half racks with custom Redhawk logo shrouds anchors the room, so whole teams can lift at once while a coach sees every station. Along the wall, a custom storage system with built-in cable columns and a lat pull/low row keeps bars, plates, dumbbells and accessories off the floor and close to where they are used. A 45-degree leg press, glute-ham developers, a leg extension/curl and a sled round out the strength and conditioning work.

Every piece was chosen for how this program trains, and every piece has a reason to be where it is.

3D rendering of double half racks with custom Seattle U logo shrouds and inlaid drop zones
Installed cable column and storage rack with Seattle U branding
3D rendering of the cable and storage wall under the Seattle U Athletics graphic
Leg extension machine in front of the Redhawks wall graphic
Close view of the installed rack line with plyo boxes at Seattle University

Team identity

A room that feels like home, and helps recruit

The Redhawks brand runs through the details: logo shrouds on the racks, logo inlays in the drop zones, logo benches and dumbbells, and custom bumper plates marked for the Wright Family Athletic Performance Center. Athletes and recruits know whose room it is the moment they walk in.

Flat benches with the Seattle U logo in the performance center
Urethane dumbbells with the Seattle U logo on a storage rack
Custom bumper plate marked Wright Family Athletic Performance Center

Installation

From warehouse to opening day

A performance center has to open on the academic calendar. The equipment order was staged ahead of delivery, the flooring and turf went in first, and the racks, storage and strength equipment followed, so the room was ready for athletes in fall 2024.

Seattle University racks and strength equipment staged in a warehouse before delivery
Equipment staged for delivery.
Crew installing the custom black turf with red hash marks
Installing the custom turf.

What it means for your school

What we would tell any athletic department planning a weight room

Every athletic weight room has the same challenge: a fixed room, a fixed budget and a lot of athletes in it at once. These are the decisions that mattered most at Seattle University.

  • Start with the session plan. Team sizes, lifting groups and coach-to-athlete ratios decide how many racks you need and which way they face.
  • Give speed work its own lane. A dedicated turf lane lets sled pushes, sprints and agility run beside a full rack session without collisions.
  • Treat flooring as equipment. Inlaid drop zones and turf define the training zones and protect the slab, so specify them with the racks.
  • Build the brand in. Logo shrouds, platforms, benches and plates make the room part of recruiting, and they are simplest to add when planned up front.
  • Plan the install around the calendar. Staging the order and putting flooring in before equipment is how a room opens on time for the season.

How BeneFitness can help

Planning a weight room, performance center or campus gym?

See how we approach clubs in the Knot Springs and Star Fitness 2.0 case studies, plus apartment amenities in the Holloway case study, or start with the service you need.

Gym design consultingConcept, space planning, programming and layouts for schools, clubs, amenities and offices. Equipment & flooringBrand-agnostic equipment and flooring, procured, delivered, installed and maintained. Design & 3D visualizationPhotorealistic renderings that show the finished space before anything is ordered.

Let’s build the room your athletes want to train in.

Tell us about your program, your space and your timeline.

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3D design and renderings by BeneFitness. Installation photos taken on site in summer 2024. Seattle University, Seattle U and Redhawks names and marks belong to Seattle University and appear here to document the project.