The Vaughan Athletic Center was chosen by the Illinois Park Recreation Association's for "The Outstanding Facility and Parks Award," in recognition of outstanding achievement in recreation facility design.

This 227,000 s.f. recreation complex is the largest facility of its type in Illinois. The new recreation center was designed to meet the current needs of the Fox Valley Park District while remaining adaptable to the future needs of the community.

The complex adjoins the existing Aurora Tennis club and includes a 10,000 s.f. fitness area along with a multi-purpose filed house with features an indoor soccer field, basketball, volleyball, tennis and badminton courts, along with batting cages, a 1/8 mile in-door track, and a suspended running track encircling the preimeter of the field house.

Of all theoptions that wait inside, there is one feature that appears to draw the most attention-the orange slide that swirls and curves outside the east end of the building, and eventually leads wimmers back insides to one of the town plunge pools. "We've had moms tell us that, if the kids are in the car, they can't even drive down Indian Trail," said Tom Roe, the former facility's manager. "The slide is a nice trademark for us."

Within the aquatic area, you will find an eight-land , 25-yard lap pool, a 7,000 s.f. leisure pool, therapy pool and recreational water system. "We wanted to build something that everybody could benefit from-from the pre-schooler to the senior citizen," Roe said, "No one grop could say you catered to one group or another."

"We wanted people to come in and feel comfortable," said Bruce Cairn, project architect for Cordogan clark & Associates. "With all the glass, it gives visibility to all the facilities inside."

The Vaughan Athletic Center has been widely acclaimed and won numberous design awards. It received the American Institute of Architects' Northeast Illinois Honor Awards-2007 Distinguished Building Award; Midwest Construction magazine's "Best of 2006" Award of Merit in the Sports and Entertainment category; the American Sports builders Association (ASBA)-2006 Outstanding Indoor Multipurpose Facility Award; the McGraw-Hill Midwest Construction-2006 Merit Award Winner for Sports & Entertainment Facilities; and was published in both the Recreation Management-May 2007 Innovative Architecture & Design Awards, and Athletic Business-June 2006 Architectural Showcase; in addition to winning the Illinois Park & Recreation (IPRA)-2006 Outstanding Facility & Parks Award.