After a January 2007 fire destroyed the sauna in the Physical Education Building, it has been decided that a new sauna will not be built.
“It was deemed a bad idea to build a new sauna in the PEB as they were fire risks and there was already an operating sauna in the Student Recreation Center,” said Kathy Browder, chair for the department of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.
Additionally, the PEB sauna didn’t see very much use when it was active. Browder said the swim team had used it occasionally, but that was it.

The locker room adjacent to the sauna in the PEB was also damaged by severe smoke and soot, but because the room was made out of concrete blocks, it didn’t burn.
It would be expensive to construct a new sauna, and the University of Idaho didn’t want to spend the money, Browder said.
The sauna, which had been there since the building opened in 1972, was destroyed after someone left a towel on the heating element, which quickly caught on fire. The Sauna was completely destroyed.

The sauna in the Student Recreation Center sees a lot of use, said Brian Mahoney, operations supervisor for the SRC.
He said the men’s sauna seems more active than the women’s.
In order to safeguard against fires and other possible problems, facility attendants constantly check the sauna in the center. There are many signs around the sauna about the proper way to use it, Mahoney said.
“We shut it (the sauna) down and spray it down with bleach and do the recommended weekly maintenance every Thursday,” said Gordon Gresch, facilities manager at the center.

Before the fire, a donor named Elsie K. Matthews  donated $90,000 to use for a human performance laboratory. The original plan called for part of the locker room to be converted into extra space for the already existing human performance laboratory.
“We wouldn’t be able to do a lot of what we do without alumni donations,” Browder said.

The space left behind by the fire, which is about 80 square feet, will be added into the human performance laboratory on top of the locker room space.
The lab teaches exercise physiology, biomechanics and motor control classes. Biomechanics look at the physics of movement and motor control centers and how the nervous system controls movement.
Such classes appeal to the 200 exercise science majors at the University of Idaho.

The department hired a biomechanist who secured funding to buy a new motion analysis system, which uses eight cameras and allows for cutting-edge research on preventing injury.
“I think the best thing about this is that it’s a great example of UI examining space and making decisions efficiently,” Browder said.
The PEB was built by special funds in 1972 so women could have equal physical activity space with men.

At that time, the department of physical education was split in two, one for each gender. Around 1978, the departments merged, and the need for two different, full-service facilities disappeared, Browder said.
The PEB now houses most of the department of Health Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. It has a small and large gym, two dance studios, the front office to the department and several faculty offices.

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