The Preeminent MLS Training Facility

The newly established Atlanta United Football Club needed a home base for its players and employees, fans and community members. The team vision of inclusion and excellence guided the design of the facility which serves as not just the training grounds for the team, but also a home for the youth team, corporate workforce, and community events. The client commissioned the designers to create a custom facility from the ground up, with avant-garde amenities to make this training facility much more than a locker room, but an inspirational, united wellness and fitness center that would attract future talent. The training gym was designed to be interconnected, featuring best-in-class equipment, a garage door that opens to the fields, and a second level observation window. It is adjoined by a series of rooms dedicated to on-site sports medicine, including a physiotherapy room with exam tables, a hydrotherapy room, and a sauna. The first team’s locker room is located at the heart of the facility, giving the players a communal place to prepare for training. The upper level dining area has an open kitchen to train the players in how and what to cook and eat, and long communal tables allow the team to eat together and spend time together off of the field. Connecting these player spaces to the corporate office spaces in the facility is an open, two-story lobby with full windows facing the fields which doubles as a private event space and reinforces the focus on providing a hospitality-driven atmosphere that encourages gathering, conversation, team bonding, and community participation.