A few weeks ago, administrators and coaches at Kansas University joined the DeBruce family and members of the community and officially broke ground on the forthcoming $18 million facility just north of Allen Fieldhouse that will house James Naismith’s original rules of basketball.
In addition to being the permanent home of the rules, which Naismith penned in 1891, the new 32,000-square-foot facility, also will serve as a student activity center built to accommodate seating for 320 that includes retail dining, café seating, a new training table setting for both the KU men’s and women’s basketball teams and a catered event space.
The DeBruce Center, which also will support future KU basketball exhibits, will be directly connected to Allen Fieldhouse through the second-floor concourse, which will provide access to the Booth Hall of Athletics.
This week, Gould Evans, the architectural firm in charge of designing the building released a dozen artistic renderings that provide a sneak peek at what the DeBruce Center will look like. Construction is expected to begin this summer and the target date for completion is the beginning of the 2015-16 basketball season.