Four shades of brown: NAIT abandons beige in gymnasium makeover

Renovations see traditional wood hues traded for Ook blues

It’s not that NAIT’s gymnasium wasn’t “nice,” says Sebastian Cava (Management ’16). It was a tidy, respectable venue. It’s just that it was stuck in the amber of the early 1960s, when the facility was built.

But amber may be too colourful a description. As Cava sees it, the gym floor – the room’s dominant feature at 11,879 square feet – was simply “too many shades of brown.

“The external court was one kind of brown,” says the recreation facilities coordinator. “Then the basketball court was another brown, and [so was] the volleyball court.” The hardwood around the Ooks logo at the floor’s centre? A lighter shade, with the faintest red undertone.

But still brown.

The upcoming Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association men’s volleyball championship presented an opportunity to change that. From March 11-14, teams from polytechnics and colleges across Canada will travel to main campus for the event – hosted by NAIT for the first time ever.

In advance of the tournament, recreation staff looked into resurfacing the floor, a routine process of sanding and repainting, says Cava, who helped oversee the work. With NAIT Facilities Management and Development (FMD) project coordinator Jessica Paglinawan liaising with the contractor, the team took the chance to trade traditional hues for Ook blues.

“This looks modern, this looks clean, this looks sharp,” says Cava. The work on the floor, funded through FMD’s maintenance budget, took eight weeks, between March and May of 2025.

“I was like, ‘Do we want to paint the wood?’ It was a risk we had to take.”

Once the resurfacing was complete – and further brightened with the replacement of the overhead lights with LEDs – the team turned its attention to the wood-panelled walls. Were they due for an update, too?

“I’m not going to lie, I was a little on edge,” says Cava. “I was like, ‘Do we want to paint the wood?’” Ooks coaches wondered as well, and worried.

But the horse had left the barn, which is how Cava describes the look of the gym previously (a well-appointed one, mind you, with hardwood floors). “It was a risk we had to take.”

Work on the walls began in December, with the finishing touches applied on Friday, Feb. 13 – just shy of a month before the tournament. They included the replacement of any trace of brown with royal blue, the addition of grey panels featuring massive Ooks logos at both ends of the court, and new crash pads spanning the section of the walls below.

“The gym is awesome,” says Mason Gorski, setter with the NAIT’s men’s volleyball team. “It is so good. I would love it if the roof was a little bit higher,” he adds with a laugh. But Gorski is looking forward to showing the space off to the country in March. “It's going to be great.”

Similarly, Cava is unable to contain his own pride in being involved in the project – and as a past Ook himself, with the men’s basketball team.

“After seeing many gymnasiums across Edmonton and Alberta, I can say we probably have one of the nicest-looking facilities in the province,” he says.

While Cava is certain the refreshed room – now more sapphire than amber – will impress volleyball fans as they take to the stands for the upcoming tournament, he hopes its impact extends beyond the event.

The goal was to “provide the best student experience for the next generation,” Cava says. “I had a great experience as a student and an athlete, so I want to make it as memorable for everybody else that is coming along.”