The new Wellness + Helfaer Recreation facility at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was a complete reimagining of the health, wellness, and recreation services, thoughtfully designed to holistically address students’ health and wellness needs.
Cost: Approximately $100 million
Square Footage: 195,000 square feet total/115,00 square feet of recreation space
Mondo Flooring: Sport Impact 6mm and 18mm, and Super X 720
Dealer: Kiefer USA
Architect: HOK and Workshop Architects
Opening Day: January 13, 2025
The reimagining of Marquette University’s Wellness + Helfaer Recreation facility began in December 2021 when an anonymous alumni couple initiated a $10 million giving challenge to enhance and unify the university's student health, wellness, and recreation services. The Board of Trustees approved the project in December 2022, and construction began shortly thereafter.
The goal was to consolidate the various wellness and recreation facilities scattered across campus into a single location, allowing Marquette to better address and support students’ overall well-being.
With the opening of the new five-floor rec center, the Campus Recreation, the Medical Clinic, the Center for Student Wellness and Health Promotion, and the Counseling Center are together under one roof for the first time.
“The Wellness + Helfaer Recreation facility opens the door to countless possibilities for enhancing our current services and introducing dynamic new programs,” James Friel, director of Campus Recreation, said. “We deeply appreciate that our programs are integrated with other departments within the building, and we are confident our students will thrive as a result.”
The rec center, designed by HOK and Workshop Architects, opened on Jan. 13, 2025, with 4,400 students, or roughly one-third of the student body, coming through its doors.
Located directly on the footprint of the original Helfaer Recreation facility and boasting 195,000 square feet, the new Wellness + Helfaer Recreation Center provides a 25% increase in recreational space from the previous venue and offers something for everyone, including:
The Wellness + Helfaer Recreation facility features Mondo’s durable Sport Impact flooring in many areas, including fitness, cardio, strength training, and common spaces. Mondo’s Super X 720 is the surface of the three-lane, 1/7th mile jogging track.
When selecting flooring, requirements included that the product line be high-performance, homogenous, and nonporous. “The Marquette University Campus Recreation team was very familiar with the Mondo product line and leaned heavily in that direction with solid support from the HOK design team,” Joel Smullen, senior project manager at Marquette University, said. “We reviewed other products and did comparisons, including cost. However, the performance and nature of the Mondo product were key in the decision-making.”
Another flooring requirement was noise-reduction properties for the strength-training spaces around the Medical Clinic and Counseling Center. Mondo’s 18mm Sport Impact proved to be the perfect solution, meeting that need.
“With strength equipment near the Medical Clinic and Counseling Center, which are traditionally quiet offices, we needed flooring that would reduce the noise made by weights dropping and equipment dinging,” Friel said. “Mondo meets our needs with its 18mm Sport Impact flooring in those areas, which provides an effective sound barrier.”
Mondo flooring also addresses the venue’s durability needs.
“We’re in Wisconsin, so lots of snow and salt get tracked into the building, which means the flooring must be cleaned often,” Friel said. “Plus, we are exceeding our usage expectations. More than 2,500 use the facility daily on average, which is significantly higher than the 1,000 we had in the old building and more than what we anticipated with the new one. But the Mondo Sport Impact flooring is extremely durable, so it stands up to the required regular cleaning and high traffic wear and tear.”
Friel also praised the Mondo Super X 720 track. “The track is comfortable. Some tracks are hard, but the Mondo track is super comfortable to run on.”
Finally, Mondo surfaces enable Marquette to be flexible with its space. “Mondo gives us the flexibility and versatility to switch out areas to do different things as needs change without changing the flooring,” Friel said.
One distinctive feature of the Wellness + Helfaer Recreation facility is its unique floor design. Instead of the usual multicolored rectangles, Marquette’s flooring consists of diagonally shaped blue and gray pieces, creating a creative, visually striking appearance. To achieve this layout, the Mondo installers performed specialized cutting on-site of the Mondo Sport Impact flooring.
The Mondo Super X 720 track also boasts an innovative feature: inlaid lane lines. Unlike most tracks that use painted lane lines, Marquette’s lane lines are made from Mondo’s Super X 720 gold track material, so they won’t chip or peel over time with continued use, like painted lines.
Another interesting feature is wainscoting, where several recreation areas have approximately 3 feet of Mondo Sport Impact extending up the walls from the floor. Not only is wainscoting aesthetically pleasing, it also protects the walls from weight or equipment damage.
Friel had high praise for Mondo and Kiefer USA. “These are first-class, professional organizations. We are 100% happy with them,” he said. “The Mondo flooring meets all our needs, and Kiefer provided regular updates with photos during the installation to keep us informed every step of the way. We couldn’t be more pleased.”