The good, the bad, and the ugly in natatorium design - aquatic sports facilities

I travel the country designing swimming pools, serving as a consultant to local or national architects and owners.

Everywhere I go, I see great aquatic centers and Sometimes ... not so great. When asked, I give advice about the buildings that will surround our pools. For fifteen years I designed the buildings too, but for the last ten years I have been content to design the pools and admire the work of the building architects. While the design of all types of facilities has been improving, I would like to see a higher quality of natatorium become the norm. So I decided to write this article to contribute some of my knowledge. The photographs tell the story, so I will be brief with the text.

As any good architect will tell you, a successful project starts with a good building program. During this process you will probably hear, "You can never build too much storage." Then when the first budget cutting begins, the storage area is the first to be cut. After all, we cannot program the storage room for any swimming uses. But once in awhile, a real storage room gets built. This photograph of about a third of the storage space at the Midtown Aquatic Center in Newport News, Virginia is a credit to the organizational skills of the aquatic manager.

Another valuable space that is not always programmed in aquatic centers is a lifeguard break room. Lifeguards must focus on their important work and take frequent breaks. Giving them their own space to rest, dress, and do paper work may help in recruitment and retention.

Natatoria may be built with a variety of construction materials, but good wall systems usually begin with double wythe masonry walls with a good vapor barrier. In this article, there are examples of several good roof assemblies, custom steel trusses with galvanized steel decks, glued-laminated (glulam) beams and wood decks, and pre-cast concrete tees and concrete decks. All have the common and excruciatingly difficult problem of ensuring the continuity of the vapor barrier in the wall with that of the roof.

Most of the time we are given a dry desert in which to put an oasis of water. While, we like this blank sheet of paper on which to work, I like to think the desert around the pool is caused by an inadequate budget rather than the limited imaginations of the architects. I would like to see more facilities designed like the Shoreview, Minnesota Community Center with an array of vertical elements that enhance the enjoyment of the aquatic center: landscaping, decorative light posts and railings, raised seating areas and artificial rock. Create exciting gathering places for people who come to the leisure pool for relaxation and social activity. A good architect or landscape architect will know how to deal with these spaces, just give them a reasonable budget and earmark it in the programming phase to go to some people places! An often overlooked structural system that is usually lower in cost than traditional construction methods still provides outstanding daylighting, excellent corrosion resistance, operable roof panels and a delightful feeling space. This dual natatorium with separated lap pool and leisure pool at the Bogan Park Community Center in Gwinnett County, Georgia has a masonry curtain wall that integrates with the design of the center while providing the special features needed for the aquatic center. Although air conditioning was desirable, it was not possible with the budget. The selected roof system allows extensive ventilation with very little increase in temperature over an outdoor pool.

The metal on this duct is gleaming now, but within a few years aluminum will oxidize and stainless steel will pit and stain. Any metal duct should have a high build epoxy coating applied during construction so that it will not need to be recoated for 15 to 20 years. In this same photograph the standard open web steel joists with back to back angles should only be used in very low budget projects. It is nearly impossible to prepare the steel properly between the angles and to apply the coating system. These will rust and be even more difficult to deal with 25 feet above the pool. Custom trusses with rounded edges that do not cut the coating system as it cures and shrinks are the solution.

Details in any building are important. The architect brought the spectator seating in the new Fairfax campus natatorium of George Mason University down low to provide a good sight line while minimizing the width of the pool deck and located the return air ducts low in the building to exhaust the lower quality air that hangs just above the water. Then they provided plenty of towel hooks. Another project has a non-corrosive hanger for the spineboard. It is nice to see a complete job instead of the spineboard leaning against a wall.

Any type of soffit or enclosed ceiling system should be avoided in the natatorium. Invariably, condensation occurs that stains the ceiling and examination of the corrosion is hidden from sight.

Telescoping bleachers should be hidden from sight. It is not possible to obtain these bleacher systems with all the parts in non-corrosive metals, so eventually they rust and become fixed in an open position. So it is better to put in permanent aluminum bleachers or tip and roll bleachers.

This office area in the natatorium will give the staff the opportunity to admire the architect's nifty glazing detail, but they will harbor unkind thoughts about the person who gave little fingers access to their stuff and made air conditioning of their space impossible. How many architects really like to do office work in 85 degree air temperature?

Stainless steel windows and doorframes used to be considered the ultimate in non-corrosive natatorium construction. Unless these items are waxed and cleaned they turn ugly. It is always necessary to paint stainless steel when used in this way, but it is lower in cost to use a good anodized aluminum system that will not corrode.

The bright stainless steel bulkhead and gutter system of this pool would have stayed that way if the specification had been for Type 316 instead of 304. The cost is very little more, but the results last a lifetime.

Steel pan stairs are a low cost solution that is appropriate for most building types, but not natatoria. Even stainless steel pans are a big problem. If the stairs to the slide or diving tower or spectator seating are designed as reinforced concrete, they will remain attractive and functional.

Architects are often faced with a compelling urge to "get off the grid". The imaginative architect of this facility has designed wonderful spaces, but the poor backstroker does not have any straight-line reference point when swimming their event. This may be easily solved with a colored rope or paint stripe on the ceiling.

Concrete masonry walls may be constructed with metal lintels over doors and windows or with reinforced concrete in special masonry units. It is never appropriate to build the lintels with steel because they result in thermal bridging and condensation. It is a little detail but so simple to do it right.

Richard C. Scott AIA author of "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly in Natatorium Design, "Indoor Decks and Drains", and "Natatorium Lighting", is an architect who specializes in aquatics consulting for competition and leisure pools. He has designed over 170 swimming pools over the last 26 years of architectural practice. He is Vice President of Water Technology, Inc. in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.

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