Athletic Training Room Design Resources

Most every athletic trainer has had to design an athletic training room at some point. Many of us have had to do this as class project along with a budget.  Some of us have had the opportunity to be involved in the design and construction of a new facility.  I would like to offer a couple of resources for the budding architect to consider.  The final result will look much better than the pencil and graph paper drawings.

The first resources is a website called www.floorplanner.com It is  very easy and intuitive to work with. You design your layout directly on the webpage.  Set the dimensions, wall thickness, windows and doors. It even offers small images of furniture to place in the layout.  You can make a simple table re-dimesioned to stand for a treatment table.  Install a sink, desk, and chairs.  There is even some images of exercise equipment.  You may have to get imaginative to place whirlpools, ice machines and rehab equipment.  For that you can insert a text description. A great resources for student projects or for the AT who like to visualize their ideas.  Floorplanner is free for one user and one project.  Up to five projects a year will cost you $14.95.

Another resource for the more serious user is Home Plan Pro.  With a much steeper learning curve it is free fro the first 30 days.  Beyond that it costs a one time fee of $39.00. The steeper learning curve allows you design in more detail.  You also have many more figures to choose from.  I purchased this product 15 years ago and have had free updates ever since.  I have used it to design remodels to three separate facilities.  I could make different layouts and have staff discussions on which one would work best.  One of the really nice features is the ability to create your own figures.  You can then insert that figure into the layout and it will be the correct dimensions for the room. Here is an example of a layout that I created sometime ago.

Within the drawing are a number of ready made figures such as the desks, chairs, and counters.  For specific athletic training equipment I created clip files.  Clip files are just smaller drawings placed within the larger design layout. Examples are below:

The item on the left is a taping unit.  The items on the right are three separate files.  A treatment table, a modality cart, and a split leg table.  I can mix and match these figures as I need.  They are also drawn to the dimensions of the actual items. If anyone is serious about using this program you can email me and I will send you the clip files I have already created.  This will save you a lot of work.

Feel free to go online and explore these programs.  You may find them very useful either now or in the future.