Yale Opens New Gallery, Stadium

CENTERBROOK, Conn. -- A brand new stadium for soccer and lacrosse and a commemorative gallery opened recently at Yale’s athletic campus along Derby Avenue in New Haven. The new Reese Stadium replaces old bleachers and houses new team rooms, concessions, and ticket booths. It hosted its first soccer games this fall. A formal dedication is planned for the spring.

Nearby, the Carm Cozza Gallery inside the Smilow Field Center opened on November 13, prior to the annual gridiron battle with Princeton. The gallery features a permanent collection of photographs and memorabilia that pay tribute to Mr. Cozza, Yale’s legendary football coach. His teams captured ten Ivy League titles during his tenure from 1965 to 1996, and on several occasions drew more than 70,000 spectators to the historic Bowl, which opened in 1914.

Centerbrook Architects led by Partner Mark Simon, FAIA, and Associate Sue Wyeth, AIA, designed these two projects and a number of other recent additions to the sports campus surrounding Yale Bowl. Tom Strong of Strong Cohen Graphic Designers of New Haven assisted with the graphics for the gallery.

Originally built in 1981, Reese Stadium now seats 1,766 spectators. Centerbrook had previously developed a Master Plan for the university’s Derby Avenue athletic campus, and Simon and Wyeth subsequently designed the Kenney Center and adjacent Jensen Plaza – as well as an expanded and renovated Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center.

The first major addition to the Yale Bowl in its 96-year history, Kenney Center and Jensen Plaza opened last fall and serve as the “front door” to the revered football stadium. ESPN.com named the Bowl as one of the top 100 sports venues in America. New team and training rooms provide the players a better place to meet at halftime, and an alumni reception room and green roof deck afford views of the field and tailgating fans outside. Leading to the Kenney Center, Jensen Plaza bears the names of all of the Yale “Y” recipients, carved in Mount Airy Granite, who have competed for the Bulldogs since the inaugural team of 1872.

Opened in 2008, the Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center was named the 2009 Indoor Tennis Facility of the Year Award by the American Sports Builders Association, and the U.S. Tennis Association recognized it with an Outstanding Facilities Award. The redesigned and improved facility is widely credited with bringing the Intercollegiate National Indoor Tennis Championship to Yale in 2009. Global Sports & Tennis Design Group, LLC of Fair Haven, New Jersey worked with Centerbrook on the project.