UW Trustees Select Architect/Engineer for Corbett Pool Project

A Wyoming firm has been chosen as the architect/engineer for a planned expansion and renovation of the University of Wyoming’s competitive swimming facility.

The UW Board of Trustees today (Thursday) voted to authorize a contract with GSG Architecture of Casper to provide architectural and engineering services for the Corbett Pool project.

The Wyoming State Legislature this year appropriated $500,000 to plan for expansion and renovation of the facility, and set aside $2 million in an account in the state treasurer’s office for future construction. The total project cost is estimated at $21 million. No construction timetable has been established.

Plans call for adding 36,000 square feet to and renovating 23,000 square feet of the 40-year-old Corbett Pool building to create a modern swimming and diving facility for UW’s intercollegiate swimming and diving teams. The existing pool is too short for swimming meets and practice, and too shallow for diving beyond the 3-meter springboard. In addition, the pool deck is too small, its locker rooms are outdated, and the spectator area is separated by a glass partition.

The planned facility features a new eight-lane, 50-meter pool with moveable bulkheads, a diving tower and diving well, with upper-level spectator seating. Expanded and upgraded locker rooms and a team room are included, along with a sports medicine and video/film room.

In other action today, the Board of Trustees voted to name the new indoor golf practice facility at UW’s Jacoby Golf Course the UW Ron R. Richardson Golf Performance Center, in honor of the recently deceased donor and supporter of UW athletics. The name was requested by Donne and Sue Fisher, who provided major gifts for both the golf facility and UW’s new Literacy Research Center and Clinic.

The new golf facility includes four hitting bays, a synthetic putting green, a single-bay golf simulator, a team room, restrooms and other amenities. The $1.2 million facility was funded by private donations.

Additionally, trustees voted to rename the UW Planetarium the UW Harry C. Vaughan Planetarium, honoring the late Iowa State University professor who established the Windy Ridge Foundation, which provided an $875,000 gift to the UW Foundation to modernize and transform the planetarium.

The planetarium project includes renovation and major technological upgrades, along with funding for staffing, maintenance and future upgrades of equipment, and reduced-cost admission for K-12 school groups.

Finally, the board voted to authorize the construction of a new Associated Students of UW Memorial Plaza at the east end of Prexy’s Pasture. The $235,000 project, funded by ASUW, will include low sandstone walls with inspirational inscriptions, Vedauwoo boulders, flagstone paving, alpine rock garden plantings and bench seating -- similar to the nearby Sullivan and Simpson plazas.