Welcome to this year’s Dream Designs.
This gallery of top-notch facilities and waterparks not only showcases the best this industry has to offer but also chronicles the evolution of its design. With each edition, it becomes more clear that this industry has unified in its mission to find ways of delivering the joys of water to as many as possible. When you look at this year’s honorees, you’ll see the goals of variety and inclusiveness even among specialized centers meant to cater to specific populations.
This year's slate also illustrates the ever-growing popularity of renovations at a time when facilities continue to age and our appreciation for community grows after the isolation of COVID. Of the 10 featured here, four are renovations.
I also took away some lessons from this year's Dream Designs facilities and waterparks, which I thought I'd share here:
Honoring existing architecture doesn’t require imitating it: The design team charged with renovating Eugene, Ore.’s Echo Hollow were working with an existing building in the early Modernist style, with a simple material palette and exposed large-span structural elements. But they wanted to introduce new elements. They attacked this by treating the building and original pool as a background palette and adding brighter colored elements to it.
Privacy and inclusion aren’t mutually exclusive: The pool at Camp Barnabas needed to accommodate all levels of physical ability and sensitivities to stimuli. This meant some would need more space or quiet, but still craved connection with the others. The designers pulled this off with a single pool expertly zoned for openness and separation.
Never underestimate the power of the periphery: Many sites have more square footage of deck and surrounding area than pool. So it only stands to reason that an existing pool doesn’t need to lock in a design aesthetic, even if it happens to have strong lines.The pool may hold the spotlight, but the deck can help accomplish many design objectives. For example, the team who renovated Harvest Park Pool wanted to move away from the hard geometry of its existing main vessel. So they added curvilinear deck, along with turf and shade elements to soften the predominant rectangle. Additionally, contrasting deck tones can provide subconscious clues subtly guiding traffic flow.
Lounge seating doesn’t have to eat up a lot of room or ruin the design flow: At Serengeti Springs, a waterpark set at a zoo in Hattiesburg, Miss., rows of chaise lounges and cabanas line the curved contousr of the freeform decking perimeter, with varying colors of concrete to differentiate wetter areas from dry. This way, they not only fit subtly into the design but actually accentuate the lines.
Lazy rivers and current channels are here to stay. Is it even possible for these features to become more popular? Judging by this collection, yes. From the rambling river that winds hundreds of feet through Aqua Nick Riviera Maya to the contained indoor current channel at Romeoville Aquatic Center, these features have elevated to the status of staple in aquatics design, almost regardless of space and budgets. No doubt, this springs from their extreme programming flexibility, as they offer the opportunity for activity and relaxation, training and instruction.
And finally, a potato head makes a fine dumping bucket: Check out Roaring Springs in Meridian, Idaho, and you'll see what I mean — and learn some interesting facts about the Gem State.
Enjoy the package!
Editor-in-Chief Joanne McClain returns to this spot next month.
