Putting together a top-notch fitness facility, from a hotel workout room to a stadium-sized megacenter, means making dozens of decisions on an amazing variety of necessities, amenities and luxuries. Decision-makers must winnow down hundreds of choices for the things their centers need. Our special pullout guide helps lay out how—and what—to choose when it comes to designing and equipping fitness centers.

Could your trees or topiary be doing more for your facility? The right outdoor planning can help bring more visitors to a site, save money, and enhance both image and functionality. From layout to basic aesthetic concepts, we talk to the experts and provide landscape basics for even the most horticulturally challenged.

Land. They’re not making any more of it. Few things will change the entire direction of a recreation program like the purchase of new land. Fraught with legal and economic difficulties, land purchases can be harrowing, grinding affairs for the recreational facility manager. But we look at some of the new partnerships and ideas that have made buying (or acquiring) land cheaper, easier and more rewarding.

Play is a process by which children learn. Similarly, renovating a play environment is a process by which both parents and facility managers learn that they have the ability to successfully create an innovative playground for a unique early childhood educational program.

What’s the secret to designing an indoor waterpark resort to make it a destination that creates an atmosphere that leaves guests with such a memorable experience that they return time and again? The answer is in the design details.

If you think a place with a name like Rocky Mount, Va., situated on the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains, sounds like a picturesque spot, you would be right. In fact, the town’s new crown jewel of a playground at the Franklin County Family YMCA offers kids a stunning view from its 24-foot tower: On a clear day you can see 15 miles down the green valley.

In a region hit hard economically by industrial mill closures, the new playground has had a positive impact on the public at large. The same holds very much true for the Altavista Area YMCA’s playground in nearby Altavista, Va.

There are not many jobs less appealing than scrubbing and vacuuming a pool by hand. Ugh. Not to mention, all the chemicals, manpower and the time commitment involved. And even then, your pool might not be as clean as you think.

Needless to say, it was certainly not a chore cherished by the aquatic staff for the eight-lane, 25-meter pool at the Cook/Douglas Recreation Center at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. Their old-school pool maintenance routine seemed downright primitive, sucking up a few hours a day at least several days a week. Find out how they learned to clean up their act.

Stadiums, by nature, are supposed to be designed to give spectators the best view of the action on the playing field. But in the case of the newly renovated Folsom Field at the University of Colorado at Boulder, fans are also treated to some spectacular scenery courtesy of Mother Nature. Glorious glaciers and high peaks serve as the backdrop for touchdowns and tackles on the gridiron.