Following a town-wide referendum, TLBA was retained to design a new community and competition pool located in Bartlem Park. The pool was designed to accommodate long and short course swimming, 1-meter diving, a variety of recreational and leisure activities, learn-to-swim and exercise programs.
In addition to these program requirements, the facility was to be an outdoor pool for the summer months and an indoor facility for the colder months. Due to budget constraints, the Town opted to provide an air-supported structure to accommodate the cold weather swimming. Recognizing the complexities and relatively short life of such a structure, the infrastructure was constructed to accommodate traditional building assemblies when budget permitted.
The design solution to separate the traditional building from the air-supported structure incorporated an architectural concrete demising wall, essentially separating the humid, pressurized atmosphere of the natatorium from conditioned space of the permanent building; which housed a lobby, locker rooms, special needs changing rooms, lifeguard and administrative offices and mechanical support spaces.
The result was a 30,000 natatorium nine months of the year and a park-like aquatic facility for the summer. Aquatic amenities include a 50-meter x 25-yard pool, with a diving well and an attached shallow leisure area. A separate wading pool is also provided with a water umbrella.