Like every other building on Northeastern's campus, Marino Center is too small for the student body…read moreat this school. Lately, we've been accepting too many, or too many people have been accepting us, and the facilities can't keep up. I've seen this happen with the library and the student centers too.
Aside from that, Marino is a really great college facility. It's one of the newer buildings on our campus.
The bottom floor has a large space with many tables to study and/or eat, and is connected to an Au Bon Pain, a Boloco, and a Wollaston's (Northeastern's "grocery store"). There's also a spin studio, but you have to be signed up for a class in order to use it.
You need your student ID to swipe into the gym. No other ID will do. Once you get in, you exchange your ID for a lock in order to put your stuff in the locker room. If you try to go up to the gym with a bag of any sort, the staff will stop you and make you lock it up.
I've always wondered why there isn't an in and out door for each locker room. There's only one door to enter and exit, which makes it difficult in the busy times of day. I'm constantly waiting for people to come out and holding the door, or hitting people who are coming in while I'm trying to get out. If they ever remodel, this would be the first thing I'd suggest. The actual locker rooms aren't bad. Lots of space, a sauna, showers, and a scale. Nothing too fancy.
The second floor is home to cardio equipment, free weights, two classrooms for group fitness, and a large gym that is usually split into three sections for basketball, field hockey, and a free space.
The third floor has a bit more cardio equipment, but it's mostly machines. There's a separate room for big buff people to use. There's also an elevated track for running, walking, or whatever you'd like.
Each semester, I sign up for group fitness. It's $50 for the entire semester, and you can take up to one class a day, every single day. It's a really great deal. Recently, my roommate has become an instructor here, so I'm even more motivated to take classes. They offer a range, from beginner cardio and abs, to a more advanced HEAT (high energy athletic training). If you're a student at Northeastern, I suggest you check it out.
The facility is nice, always clean, and staffed well. There are always clean, warm towels to grab on your way up and down, which is a nice touch. They have a nice array of machines, and the group fitness option is great. I just wish they would expand a bit, because finding a treadmill at 5:00pm on a weeknight is almost impossible.