Serengeti Springs at the Hattiesburg Zoo
Hattiesburg, Miss.
Aquatic Designer/Aquatic Consultant: Martin Aquatic Design & Engineering
Landscape Architect: LandDesign
Pool Contractor/ General Contractor: USA Inc.
With thoughtfully chosen colors, iconography and phrases, this new expansion of a splash pad not only ties in with the zoo in which it’s housed, but it challenges and engages all ages.
Ownership of the Hattiesburg Zoo in Hattiesburg, Miss., was seeking to expand its demographic beyond the toddlers who comprised the majority of attendance.
Up to that point, the zoo had featured a small splash pad with relatively few vertical nozzles for smaller children to run through and keep cool. They wanted someothing to engage older children, teens and adult. Small children wouldn’t be ignored: The owners and design team also sought to provide an even more engaging experience for babies and toddlers.
The design team answered with Serengeti Springs, with an updated and more intensive spray pad for young children, as well as larger slides for older children and a lazy river for adults.
For all ages
The play area provides a first introduction to water play for young babies and toddlers.
Replacing the modest spray nozzles, the designers included two large dumping buckets to immerse users. Other vertical elements such as rain curtains, tipping cones and spray guns also feature prominently thoughout the play structure. The colorful safety surfacing extends beyond the structure’s footprint, allowing young children to safely play on the perimeter, splash in puddles and enjoy the smaller water toys. Once small children and babies acclimate to the gentle water environment, they can graduate to toddler-sized slides at the tower’s base.
The slides at the top of the structure are reserved for those who meet the height restrictions, making it something of a right of passage for older children and teens. Inside the enclosed tube slide, adventurous individuals can enjoy amped-up visual effects that create glowing stripes and polka dots.
Next to the dominating play structure ambles a lazy river with swim-up bar, providing an area for adults to relax.
The waterpark’s theming was chosen to tie in with the zoo itself. Shortly before the waterpark was announced, the Zoo held a highly celebrated Africa exhibit, inspiring the Hattiesburg Convention Commission to extend the Africa theme to the new water venue.
The play structure incorporates as many of the African animals featured in the zoo as possible, using 2D relief, 3D molds and flat panels to portray the African grey parrot, a zebra, giraffe, serval cats, DeBrazzas monkey, colobus monkey, python, hornbill, lemur, gecko and flamingo. Other animals found at the zoo but not native to Africa also are featured. The traditional Swahili greetings “jambo” and “habari” also were displayed, as were other terms in the language.
On the play structure, the floor features blue to evoke water, while yellow provides a balancing warm tone that’s brigher than the tans, browns and greens found on many of the zoo enclosures.
Plenty of lounge seating is provided surrounding both the play structure and lazy river. A darker gray is used for the decking in the lounging areas to subtly distinguish dry zones from wet. The curvilinear edges of the deck serve practical and aesthetic purposes, both providing the quickest path while imitating the curves of the river and evoking the movement of water.
The surrounding buildings were designed to reflect the existing African pavilion and house a snack bar, arrival/guest services, lockers and restrooms, gift shop, first aid and mechanical spaces.
SUPPLIERS:
Controller/Control System: BECS Technology
Filtration: Evoqua Water Technologies
Floor Covering: Life Floor
Interactive Waterfeatures: WhiteWater
Pumps: Current Systems
Slides: WhiteWater
