This all-electric, emissions-free community aquatics center occupies a challenging site in Piedmont’s central civic center. Given the premium placed on buildable land in the city, especially in its dense, village-like core, this project is seen as especially important: it allows officials to consolidate numerous recreation-oriented resources into a single location and adds new vitality to the highly developed surrounding area.
The existing Piedmont pool, opened in the 1960s, was a community hub used by several generations of adults and children; it was finally shuttered in 2020 due to dilapidated, leaky facilities and outdated programming capacities. Our design concept makes the most of the site’s 30-foot drop and numerous adjacent, complementary facilities (including a tennis center and the city’s recreation department), transforming its highly circumscribed pentagonal corner site into a luxurious and inviting hub for wellness and civic interaction. We relied on extensive community workshops to refine our focus, responding to growing demand for aquatic activities with an increase in overall water area and expansive programming options. The LEED Silver-targeted center, which recently opened, includes a community building that affords residents an exciting new range of uses.