Making a Splash

From a rooftop pool overlooking a city skyline to a community pool awash with neighborhood kids, swimming pools are some of the best loved construction projects come the height of summer.

Fortunately, a few market trends — including the desire for more amenities in multifamily developments and the commitment of some local governments to create more public recreation facilities — have been generating a string of swimming pool construction projects.

While designing The Annex on 12th, a 562-unit multifamily development in Washington, D.C, Design Collective was asked to include a luxury pool on top of the 13-story building.

As with many rooftop pools, space was at a premium. In addition, designers had to overcome a list of technical challenges involved in building on the structure; drainage, height restrictions, safety requirements and MEP systems needed to operate the pool.

“It’s an exercise in mind gymnastics to understand the technical constraints of the building while balancing the spatial needs of the project,” said Brian Reetz, Principal with Design Collective. “Big picture decisions need to be made early in the design process about the pool and unit counts, and balancing those two… In some developments, you can’t lose two apartment units beneath the pool because that won’t work with the project’s pro forma.”

A decision to retain apartments beneath the planned pool at The Annex meant designers had to alter the elevation of the roof to accommodate the full depth of the pool and the systems that needed to run beneath it. The design also had to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Washington’s tight building height restrictions.

The solution to all of those challenges was to install a modest, four-foot deep, infinity edge pool at one corner of the rooftop. Set in among chaise lounges, other seating options, the building’s clubhouse, planters, a four-seasons outdoor space and a clear glass safety fence, the pool provides residents with a luxurious opportunity to take a dip, sun bathe and socialize in front of a spectacular view of the Washington Monument.

The monument, Reetz said, “is a borrowed visual amenity. It’s a very Japanese design theory. You design your space to borrow views and that makes your property more amazing.”

Other multifamily pool projects aren’t as technically challenging, but no less carefully crafted.

At The Forge apartment complex in Elkridge, Design Collective created a more spacious pool in a ground-level courtyard. The design included laminar jets along one side of the pool to create soothing white noise and a resort-style chaise lounge shelf at one end of the pool where residents could recline and drape their feet in the water.

Pools, however, are only part of the “checklist of amenities that are needed to woo potential renters,” Reetz said.

“You’re selling a lifestyle so you need interior amenities that complement exterior amenities, and the quality of amenities can make a project stand out.”

Consequently, The Forge’s pool area was designed to be visible from inside the clubhouse, but surrounded by other attractive features — a four-season outdoor space, community grills, an outdoor TV, a variety of comfortable seating options, and even space that could be used for co-working.

“I’m always surprised at how many people rent an apartment and then work in the amenity spaces,” he said.

Consequently, residents at The Forge could easily settle into a comfy chair in the courtyard or a table beneath a trellis to work on their laptops then refresh themselves midday by diving into the pool for a quick swim.

In Baltimore City, Plano-Coudon Construction is executing a different series of pool projects. As part of the city’s effort to replace aging and sometimes mothballed community pools, Plano-Coudon was contracted to build new pools at Walter P. Carter school, the Towanda and Coldstream recreation centers, and the Greater Model Aquatic Center.

The company which built the Druid Hill pool a few years ago, has been honing its knowledge of the pool-construction niche “so we can make better assessments of project scopes, conduct better upfront negotiations of contracts and be more competitive,” said Grant Cunningham, Project Executive.

That knowledge has also helped project teams navigate typical challenges.

For example, plans for The Walter P. Carter Aquatic Center called for creating a lap pool, a family pool, a bathhouse and a pump room on a half-acre site. A tight site, a tight budget and an acute need to have the pool ready to open by summer meant the project team had to avoid any time-consuming rework, even when they encountered surprises.

“The most impressive work that happened on this project was underground,” said Rishabh Jain, Project Manager at Plano-Coudon. “There’s so much piping and coordination that needs to happen. You have all the pool piping, supply piping and return piping for both pools looping around the site. There is also the storm drain, sanitary line and electrical lines… Knowledge of the underground utilities, sequencing all the work so you started with the deepest utility first and coordinating with all the subs was really important to making sure the installations were done right. Even a small amount of rework could have messed up our schedule.”

The project team achieved that goal, even after discovering that an existing water line that the new pools were supposed to tie into was actually defunct and carried no water.

Other city pool projects have included additional requirements.

In addition to two pools, a bathhouse and pump house, the Tawanda Aquatic Center project included construction of a new playground and an urban soils restoration project.

“It was a pretty extensive cut and replacement,” said Ben Banbury, Senior Project Manager with Plano-Coudon.

Crews had to remove two feet of soil across a former ballfield then remove rocks, unsuitable soils and other inappropriate subsurface materials, including some foundations they uncovered. Crews screened the soil, added amendments based on soil testing, layered on six inches of new topsoil, and reseeded the field.

To complete the Towanda and Coldstream projects on schedule, Plano-Coudon also had to make some bold, proactive changes to the work schedule which began last fall.

“A cold, wet winter is always a big concern when you have a project that’s dominated by site work and outdoor activities,” Banbury said. “We tried to tackle that by coordinating with the city about working overtime up front in anticipation of weather issues and getting the project out of the ground before the winter months.”

All that work on the community pool projects, however, has delivered special rewards.

The Walter P. Carter Aquatic Center is adjacent to an elementary and middle school.

“Towards the end of the project, kids were coming up to me and anyone else working there and asking, ‘Is it ready? Is it ready?’” Jain said. “You could see the excitement in their faces and how important this pool was to them.”

At the Towanda and Coldstream recreation centers, “I saw kids in swimsuits get on buses so they could go to some other pool to swim one day a week,” Banbury said. “With these projects, we are reestablishing something special in these communities that kids and families will be able to enjoy every day through the summer.”