Modern locker rooms, whether within municipal recreation centers, private clubs, or at the highest collegiate level, are designed to enhance the experience of users and can be a critical element in retaining and attracting new members and top athletes.
Current trends in locker room design at fitness and recreation facilities can offer state-of-the-art spaces that cater to the diverse needs of valued members, said Jen Hocherman, principal, SV Design. “Enhancing locker room layouts and accessibility creates an inclusive, safe, and sustainable environment that is welcoming to all.”
It wasn’t always that way. “Things have changed drastically, even in the last decade,” Hocherman explained. “Locker rooms were once seen as a utilitarian space where everything was functional. The aesthetics and the comfort of the occupants were not a top priority.”
For years, much effort was focused on the structural design of gymnasiums, health clubs, and aquatic centers, Hocherman noted. “And then you’d go into the locker room and it was just ‘blah.’ Locker rooms were as utilitarian and space-efficient as possible. But we’ve moved away from that. Especially in the last few years.”
Modern locker rooms are designed to foster a welcoming atmosphere for users of all ages while also promoting a sense of cleanliness and freshness, said Kristin Stubbs, an interior designer at Moody Nolan. “This is underscored by creating light and bright spaces—a delicate balance, requiring the incorporation of elements of biophilia that reference wood or natural stone to ensure that the space does not feel sterile or institutional.”
These facilities tend not to see renovations often, Stubbs continued, therefore it’s crucial to create an ecosystem of spaces that are flexible for current and future needs while establishing a timeless feel.
Locker room designers are meeting the challenge of a more demanding and aware public. The locker makeup has been leaning heavily toward wood for a long time as it provides a nice quality aesthetic. Particularly in adult-only locker rooms there is more color, and the lighting is better. The walls might feature tile, and the whole feel aims to maximize the user or member experience.
“We don’t often see metal lockers anymore,” said Emily Parris, associate principal, Sasaki Design. “They had value back in the day, as they were affordable and durable. But now, due to rust and aesthetic concerns, locker room designers are leaning heavily toward wood, which provides a nice quality aesthetic. Even more recently we see locker room lockers that are phenolic. Such lockers combine the appeal of a wooden locker with low maintenance.”
Recognizing a Diverse User Base
Stakeholders understand that there is a wide difference in how to approach a locker room space for their members—or constituents, if the recreation center is a project funded by the local government. Communities are composed of folks within a wide range of demographics. Potential rec center users could be parents with small kids in tow or somebody with mobility issues. And when it comes to locker room users, there are those who value their individual privacy and are not comfortable in open spaces. Other members might want to hang out after a class or after aquatics. All types of patrons should be addressed in locker room configurations.
“For that reason alone,” Hocherman said, “what we are seeing as a big trend is that most of our facilities are moving away from having more traditional men’s, women’s, boys’, girls’, and family locker rooms. When you walked through a recreation facility locker room in 2003, you might have noticed five different locker rooms. That was inefficient because you had boys’ and girls’ locker rooms in use from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., and the rest of the time that space might have been empty and unused. Now, our rec center clients are moving toward having three locker rooms: men’s, women’s, and universal, where universal means everybody. Within the universal locker room space are changing stalls that are more accommodations for families, and also separate toilet and shower rooms.”
Another factor to consider in design, Parris said, “are different community requests, in terms of safety, diversity, and inclusion.”
Community center administrators and users are highly focused on safety. That concern is reflected in designs that have no dead end spaces in the locker room, no areas that couldn’t be seen by somebody if there is a safety concern, such as bullying or something of that nature. Safety, bullying, or hazing are concerns in any locker room, particularly those that welcome juveniles.
Locker rooms tend to be unsupervised spaces, but now we often see safety cameras outside, and surveillance cameras in lobbies, Parris said. “In locker rooms there is this overlap of privacy. We try not to have any spaces that are narrow or not have any corners or space in the room that wouldn’t feel comfortable to be in. We do worry about people behaving badly.
“We did a community rec center in North Carolina where the color and welcoming inclusive comfort of the locker room was important,” Parris added. “But at the end of the day there were a huge amount of people coming through the center, and the locker had to hold up to the wear and tear of everyone using the locker properly. There is always the potential of some users damaging the locker. You need to make sure you eliminate those opportunities. It leads to having as much open space as possible with changing rooms and shower areas outside of the locker room so that people can be outside the crowd.”
Privacy is of utmost importance in universal locker room design, as these spaces serve people of all genders and ages, Hocherman continued. “To address this, the design must provide a variety of private spaces with full-height walls and doors to allow for changing/dressing behind closed doors, while the open area is used for activities such as grooming, storing one’s belongings, and changing shoes. In the same effort to create both a sense of inclusion and privacy, it is recommended that toilet rooms and changing rooms in the men’s and women’s locker rooms are fully enclosed, in lieu of being constructed with thick plastic partitions to create stalls.”
Creating a ‘Neighborhood’
Years ago, facilities might have featured a big fitness and free weights area and a smaller area that might be designated as a women’s gym or women’s workout space, all within a short distance from the locker room, Parris said. “The premise there was that someone new to a weight room might want a smaller space where they don’t feel like they are being watched as they learned and got more comfortable in it. Now we create a ‘neighborhood’ where gender or age does not matter. It is more about someone feeling comfortable, and that might just be breaking down a large-scale weight room.”
In the private club market, there are also locker rooms creating an experience around wellness and self-care, said Colleen McKenna, principal and Sports, Recreation and Wellness Practice Director for CannonDesign. “Locker rooms have transitioned from more than a place to change into one that might have a sauna and more highly finished lockers, beautiful showers, locked doors, and privacy.”
Designers are elevating the experience within the change room area, looking to create a more personal experience that is no different from what you might see in a private club.
On the municipal side it is more about a functional change and being mindful of personal differences, and so we are seeing fewer gender-specific locker rooms and seeing more of the cabana style, which is a private toilet, sink, and shower in one enclosed room, McKenna noted, agreeing with Hocherman. “We are seeing more private change rooms in a family locker-room style,” McKenna said, “where you can bring your children in of opposite genders and go into a private room, change and then bring your personal belongings out, put them in a locker, do an activity and then come back for those belongings, versus a mother bringing a young son to a women’s locker room, for example, which can sometimes create an uncomfortable environment.”
Europe is far ahead of the U.S. when it comes to being mindful of how the demographics are changing and the need to include family-style, or cabana-style locker rooms, McKenna noted. “This is where there is growth in municipal and community recreation centers. Our counterparts in Europe have been doing this for years in very beautiful facilities. We are starting to see an addressing of that functional change here in the States. As our population ages and there is a need for adults to bring a spouse that might need assistance, perhaps of the opposite gender, there is an opportunity for that kind of assistance to take place in this family-style change room. Universal locker rooms are addressing privacy in creative and thoughtful ways. Toilets and showers are in private rooms off the main universal space.”
University Locker Rooms
Everything is different when it comes to Division I-III athletic locker room space, McKenna said. “Here, the personalization, the athletes’ experience, has transcended into the locker room space. All the cool graphics that we once only saw in the public space now are very much well ingrained into any locker room, whether that’s the digital aspects of it, name plates, the LED lighting everywhere, or the high-rent material.”
Lockers that used to be industrial-strength and indestructible are now highly detailed and highly finished materials. A modern athletic locker room is all part of the recruiting process. Users of the recreation and athletic space want to see where their team is going to “hang out and spend the majority of their time. At the University of Maryland team room there is a barber shop and pool table in the locker room. It’s pretty incredible what is happening at that level,” McKenna said. “And that is happening universally across the country.”
When the team room facility hasn’t kept up with the times, larger universities will often reach out to donors to contribute funds and upgrade all the team facilities and team support facilities as part of a recruitment package. “I think this is something we will continue to see more of,” McKenna said.
University rec center and athletic locker rooms have changed significantly with the times, Parris said, agreeing with McKenna. “The idea of having a modern flexibility where you can highlight the student athlete’s name and number and use this to recruit to a space that a student athlete would spend a lot of time in has become the trend—high end finishes, graphics. If you look in big Division I locker spaces, they are putting custom imagery in the front of the locker that replicates the student’s jersey.”
The push is trying to get a “Wow” factor. Division I has kept up with other institutions, Parris said. “Recruiting and keeping students has gotten extremely competitive. Because of the transfer portal, first appearance is important. There is a lot of pressure on facilities, particularly during locker room and recruiting tours. You get one chance to impress an athlete.”
When you get to a higher level of athletics where the team is hand-selected by the university coaches and staff, the issue is more about arranging lockers and arranging the space that is also actually a teaching environment, where coaches can call meetings and break down gameday videos and discuss strategies.
Awash in Privacy
An aquatic environment heightens the need for locker room privacy, designers say. In facilities that offer aquatics and host events for all age groups, from youth to competitive collegiate athletics, locker rooms must be flexible and maximize space to meet the varied needs of users, said Mason Johnson, project architect for Moody Nolan.
In these spaces, Johnson continued, “it is critical to offer different layers of privacy for users to choose from, allowing them to decide which space is most comfortable and meets their needs. These needs can be met by incorporating single-use restrooms directly adjacent to the pool deck, outfitting traditional locker rooms with open changing areas and private single-use or family-focused spaces, or equipping team locker rooms with dry changing areas and grouped wet areas for larger events or dedicated team use.”
Johnson employed this concept by establishing these three types of locker rooms in the natatorium of Michigan State University’s Student Recreation and Wellness Center, which is currently under construction. “For higher education projects,” he explained, “we often get feedback from the university on their locker room requirements, refining our design to account for the appropriate distribution of available lockers, gender-neutral locker rooms, and traditional gendered locker rooms.”
These facilities tend not to see renovations often, added Stubbs. “Therefore, it’s crucial to create an ecosystem of spaces that are flexible for current and future needs while establishing a timeless feel.”
The selection of finishes at facilities with pools must be thoughtfully considered to ensure long-lasting durability and slip resistance. “In pool environments,” Stubbs said, “finishes must also be moisture- and chemical-resistant. Additionally, the placement of floor drains should be strategically planned to direct water away from high-traffic areas, maintaining both safety and functionality.
“To promote a safe and functional user environment,” Stubbs continued, “our team often integrates translucent glass into solid doors for single-use restrooms and changing rooms. This design allows individuals to easily determine if the room is occupied, as light passes through the glass while maintaining the necessary privacy within these spaces.”
Locker rooms must also account for increased accessibility and operations, including accessories like swimsuit water extractors, adult changing tables, fully accessible lockers, and available staffing to facilitate events and meet the needs of everyday users.
Most health codes require that you pass the shower area to and from the pool itself, said McKenna, so designers need to be mindful of what the circulation patterns are within the aquatics area versus the dry area of the locker room and lay it out to manage the flow and create a safer, more comfortable, and cleaner environment.
“At some aquatic facilities,” McKenna observed, “We are seeing, within the locker room, private change areas that are either behind curtains or partitions. These are private shower areas that are 3x6, so that there is a 3x3 area for showering and a 3x3 area for changing. For privacy, the partitions will either reach the ground or be close to it.”
Thoughtfully improving the flow of foot traffic in a locker room reduces congestion and ensures a safer environment, especially for members moving between pool areas and the drier areas of a locker room, said Hocherman.
Parris suggests that pool officials note “the hierarchy entry and use of the space and the pool deck. Some users come in already dressed and drop off their coats in a locker. Gender issues are important so that users feel safe and comfortable.
“What we have done a lot,” she added, “is that we have our general locker room, with changing rooms, and a shower area where you pull a curtain. The idea of individual user areas helps people feel they are not being watched. The goal is also to make sure everyone showers before they go into the pool.”
“However we can make the user feel comfortable tends to be a big push at pools,” Hocherman said. “We see men’s, women’s, and individual family locker rooms as a full non-threatening space.” RM