Images courtesy of John Weil Architecture
PORTLAND, Ore. – While work continues on a grand new expansion of 4,000 seats to the eastern side of Providence Park, that's not the only building growth happening in the Portland Timbers universe. In Beaverton, the club is also nearing the finish of an expansion to the adidas Timbers Training Center.
For Timbers general manager and president of soccer Gavin Wilkinson, they’re improvements that will build on a solid base to greatly enhance the club’s abilities.
“The changes at the training center are both necessary and greatly appreciated,” he said. “MLS keeps growing as a league and the standards keep improving. The training facility is where we spend the majority of our time and is the engine room for the soccer side of the club.
“The new training facility not only reinforces the ambition and commitment of this club but also gives the staff and players the necessary space, tools and equipment to help meet our targeted goals.”
Begun at the close of the 2017 regular season, the club’s training center expansion will see the space triple in growth to 24,000 square feet. Improvements include an enlarged new weight room, a film theatre room for game study and match prep, a new gourmet kitchen and commissary with players’ lounge, expanded auxiliary locker rooms, four new training tubs with expanded treatment areas, an enlarged coaches’ area, and a new media studio space.
A big element of the new design, according to Wilkinson, is to heighten the club’s ability for the players to work and collaborate around each other from across the team.
“The main positives are the overhauls of the gym, treatment areas, dining room/kitchen area, and the construction of a new theatre,” he said. “The dining space allows both the first team and second team to eat together, which is important for the culture of the club, and the enhanced kitchen area allows us space to employ another chef.
“The theatre is essential for the team’s pre and postgame preparation and video analysis, in addition to the various group positional player video meetings that take place on a regular basis.”
Designed by architect John Weil, the newly expanded team areas include skylights for natural light and wood finishes throughout all in a modern clean design. One of those new skylights illuminates an increased new gym and workout area.
“The gym is a massive open space capable of accommodating all of our teams, with state-of-the-art equipment and tremendous resources to even better prepare the players for trainings and matches,” said Wilkinson.
First opened in 2012, the training center is the nexus for all Timbers teams with the first team, T2 and Academy squads all utilizing the space for practice and sports fitness. It includes two full-size playing fields—one grass and one FieldTurf. As part of the new renovation, the FIFA Quality Pro Standard FieldTurf field will get an upgrade with a newly installed pitch and the club hopes to expand the current training pitch footprint as well.
The budget for the project comes in near $4.3 million and looks to be finished by the beginning of May.
