Anteater Recreation Center

rdf:langString Anteater Recreation Center

rdf:langString The Anteater Recreation Center (ARC) is an 89,000-square-foot (8,300 m2) indoor gym facility that is part of campus recreation at the University of California, Irvine (UCI); the anteater is the mascot of the UC Irvine athletics team (see University of California, Irvine#Athletics for the mascot's origin and history). It is open to all UCI students, faculty and staff members, alumni, and other university affiliates, including spouses. The facility was designed by Langdon Wilson Architecture. It opened in January 2000, replacing older, cramped recreational facilities at the school's older gym, Crawford Hall. Built at a cost of $26 million, it was funded by a student referendum approved in May 1996, when UCI students voted to pay an additional $88 per quarter to fund the center and other athletic and recreational facilities. The positive reception for the new center led students at other University of California campuses (such as UCLA) to push for similar improvements in their recreational facilities. The facility has been the setting for several Guinness world record events, including a 4,448-participant dodgeball game in 2011 and a 3,875-combatant water pistol fight in 2013.