Cody Jacobucci Visits the
Z Center

Background:

About

The Zesiger Sports and Fitness Center (otherwise known as the Z) is MIT’s main fitness center. It was designed by Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo and Associates, and finished in 2002. The Z is over 125,000 sq ft, and is home to 6 squash courts, 4 full size basketball courts, 2 fitness floors, a 50 meter lap pool with full diving setup, an indoor track, a 25 yard instructional pool, and lockers/athletic trainer offices for varsity athletes.

   

I am going to focus on the experience of someone visiting the fitness center for cardio/weightlifting and identify common pain points collected through surveys, interviews, and my own experiences at the Z over the years.

Old MIT Tour legends have the additional scoop on the Z, and it goes something like this: “Does anyone know what building this is?” Insert pause by some students/parents not wanting to seem overly anxious to show how much they know about the school while the tour guide begins to walk backwards. Then someone will answer, and the tour guide will talk about how many varsity athletes we have at MIT and how we also like sports! Finally, they get to the pool and the tour guide begins, “ When talks began about building the Z, the main donor said ‘The only way I am going to donate all this money is if I know my investment in the MIT students is going to be worth it. How do I know that they won’t just fall off the Mass Ave bridge and not be able to swim to shore because they have been doing more PSETs than sets at the gym? All MIT students should be able to swim the width of the Charles River for a swim test or they will not be allowed to graduate!’ Then the MIT people got together and said, ‘Well, technically they will never have to swim more than half the distance of the Charles, so the swim test should be half the width of the Charles at it widest point.’ After the course 18 faculty checked over the math, it was final- all MIT students will have to swim 100 m straight before the graduate”. The tour resumes and the guide says, “MIT students also have a PE requirement, and if they take classes in pistol, sailing, and archery, they can get their pirates license!” The aspiring nerds all are chilled to the bone and know that this is the place for them, and many a prospective lifer were roped in with this (probably) fake story.