Majoring IN Wellness

Glide on the ice, swim laps in the pool, or learn how to cook a nutritious meal. These are all options for students at the University of Wisconsin—Madison, thanks to the brand-new Bakke Recreation & Wellbeing Center on campus. Designed to benefit both the physical and mental health of college students, the facility is just one of the many ways Sub-Zero, Wolf, and Cove support the people of greater Madison, where the company is headquartered.

The Bakke Recreation & Wellbeing Center officially opened its doors on April 24, 2023, made possible through a generous donation from the Bakke Family (Jim Bakke, CEO and President of Sub-Zero Group, is a native of Madison and a UW—Madison alum) via the Sub-Zero Group, Inc., It was the third project to be completed from UW’s master plan that was approved in 2014 to improve the UW Madison campus’s outdated recreational facilities.

Affectionally called “the Bakke,” the center not only provides more than 250,000 square feet of recreational space for students, but it also welcomes them with open arms and gives them a sense of belonging and balance so they can thrive.

Knowing that today’s college students have both incredible resources and technology at their fingertips as well as high amounts of stress factors, the leaders at University of Wisconsin–Madison sought to create an ambitious and inspirational recreation center where students could exercise, unwind, learn, explore, and connect with others. As one of the community-focused places the college provides for the student body, the Bakke Recreation & Wellbeing Center merges traditional sports activities with wellness services to encourage individual fitness and campus togetherness.

“When we designed this facility, we were very intentional about building unique spaces where anybody, not just your traditional gym user, felt comfortable and felt a sense of belonging,” says Aaron Hobson, Director of Recreation and Wellbeing, University of Wisconsin–Madison. “Our tagline when we opened the facility was ‘You belong at Bakke.’”

With a nod to Sub-Zero, Wolf, and Cove’s product line, several named areas in the center offer opportunities for fitness, sports, and nutrition, each reflecting a corporate-wide dedication to community wellbeing:

Cove Pool

This 25-yard recreational pool allows members to enjoy aquatic programming and fitness classes without competing with the schedule of the athletic swimming and dive teams, who practice at a separate facility.

Sub-Zero Ice Center

A state-of-the-art ice sheet is home to men’s and women’s club ice hockey teams, offers lessons and open skating opportunities, and serves as a community space for events open to the public.

Wolf Teaching Kitchen

The fully functional and immersive space helps students learn more about nutrition and develop healthier relationships with food. With a registered dietitian on staff, students can book one-on-one consultations and attend cooking classes and workshops to explore culinary options they never knew existed. 

“We rebranded in 2018 to encompass the wellbeing portion of our name, which was really intentional,” says Hobson. “When we began designing this center, we were able to add about 5,000 square feet of space dedicated solely to wellbeing—a meditation and mindfulness room, massage therapy areas, peer-to-peer coaching areas, and a restorative space that holds our nap pods—and now we are helping to serve our students’ physical health as well as their mental health.” 

The inclusion of these wellbeing-focused spaces moves the center toward its mission of helping students find a sense of self at the Bakke, and the myriad options available to students also create an incredible amount of diversity in terms of the types of students who access the space. On any given day, you may have a more traditional user coming to run on a treadmill, followed by an undergrad practicing ice skating for the first time and students learning the proper way to dice an onion and create a nutritious meal for themselves.

Other activities at the center include sports simulators, a colorfully lit cycling studio, four full-sized basketball courts, the 32-foot-high Mt. Mendota Climbing Wall, and the 13-foot Bouldering Wall. The stunning natural setting of the Bakke adds to the overall sense of health and well-being, with lake views from several workout areas and exterior walking paths through wooded areas.  

Having all the different recreational opportunities available under one roof was a planned outcome from the beginning of the design process. In addition to the overarching goal of developing healthier students, the design also purposely focused on building a more profound sense of self for students and cultivating a stronger community at the same time.

Though the Bakke Recreation & Wellbeing Center has only been open for several months, the impact began immediately. “The energy we felt on opening day motivates us to provide the best programs and services to all of our students, and there is no better facility to do that in,” says Hobson. “Our students are absolutely blessed to have such an incredible facility that can impact them holistically in all the dimensions of their wellbeing. There really is something for everyone at the Bakke.”