Everything is bigger in Texas… even your typical high school pool. New facilities for two school districts in the growing Houston area, the Lamar CISD District Natatorium in Rosenberg and the Cypress Fairbanks Natatorium in Houston, help show off the trends in high school natatoriums in the great state of Texas.
Lamar CISD District Natatorium
Design Team:
Architecture: PBK Sports
Aquatic Design: Counsilman-Hunsaker
Structural Consultant: PBK Structural
Civil/Sports: PBK Sports
Mechanical, Electrical & Plumbing Engineering: PBK MEP
Landscape Architect: Greenscape Associates
General Contractor: Gama Construction
Natatorium Facts
- Construction Cost: $10.7 million
- Pool Length: 123 feet by 75 feet (25 yards)
- Water Capacity: 542,719 gallons Seating Capacity: 600 spectator seats Depth: 3’-6” feet at shallow end, 13’-6” feet at deep end Diving: 1 (one) 3-meter Springboard, 2 (two) 1-meter Springboards
Lamar ISD- Jud Haggard Photography / CH
Lamar CISD’s new district-wide natatorium is a state-of-the-art competition aquatics facility completed in 2015 in Rosenberg, Texas. Funded by a 2011 Bond Program, the project serves as the district’s second aquatics facility for students and surrounding communities. The site for the new natatorium is located at the “heart” of the school district, adjacent to Traylor Stadium and Lamar High School. The school district has a nationally recognized 4th grade swim program, along with a high school and diving team, high school water polo, USA Swimming swim team, club water polo, and swim lessons. The pool is also open to the public for recreational swimming and exercise lap swimming.
Lamar ISD- Jud Haggard Photography / CH
The 31,852 square-foot facility showcases a stretch 25 yard swimming pool. The pool is 123 feet long to allow for swimming a diving to take place concurrently. The pool has a 6 foot bulkhead, one (1) 3-meter springboard with concrete platform and two (2) 1-meter springboards. Spectator seating accommodates a capacity of 600, with concession stands and public restrooms nearby. Support facilities for the natatorium include a lobby, information desk, weight room, classroom space, dressing facilities, offices, lifeguard training room, storage, and scoring booth. The classroom sits adjacent to a large, secure courtyard that is used for swimming teams during competition. Architecturally, the structure is highlighted by a formalized grouping of warm metal modular textured planes coupled with warm neutral masonry walls. The south and north walls are composed of three pivoted panels to allow indirect natural daylight into the competition swim area. Located at the southeast corner of the building, the main entry is accented by a glass lobby that provides a highly illuminated sense of entry. The structure also showcases durable masonry walls, wood glulam beams, and an attractive wood plank deck ceiling. Spectator circulation is elevated four feet above the pool deck to maximize sight lines and separation from coaches and athletes. The architecture encourages the use of indirect and soft natural light to bounce throughout the building. This minimizes potential direct glare disturbance for swimmers competing in the pool.
Cypress Fairbanks ISD District Natatorium
CFISD Nat Rendering – photo credit PBK Architects / CH
Design Team:
Architecture: PBK and PBK Sports
Facilities: PBK
Aquatic Design: Counsilman-Hunsaker
Structural Consultant: Walter P. Moore
Civil/Sports: Brooks & Sparks, Inc.
Mechanical, Electrical & Plumbing/ Technology: DBR Engineering Consultants
Food Service: Foodservice Design Professionals
Landscape Architect: Greenscape Associates
General Contractor: Division One Construction
Natatorium Facts
- Construction Cost: $17 million
- Total Building Area: 46,101 square feet
- Pool Length: 174 feet by 75 feet
- Water Capacity: 834,866 gallons Seating
- Capacity: 960 spectator seats + 480 portable seating on deck for athletes Water Depth: 7’-0” feet at shallow end, 13’-0” feet at deep end Diving: 1 (one) 3-meter Springboard, 2 (two) 1-meter Springboards
CFISD-Outside – photo credit PBK Architects / CH
Constructed in Houston, Texas, the new Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District (CFISD) natatorium is scheduled for completion in December 2016. Funded by a 2014 School Bond Program, the project will serve as one of the main training and competition district aquatics facilities for all communities of the CFISD. The natatorium is being constructed at the Pridgeon Athletic Complex as part of a major addition and renovation to the stadium. CFISD offers a district-wide Splash program – a swimming program for all ages, as well as a high school swimming program, high school diving, Special Olympics, and recreational swimming.
Lamar – Photo credit PBK Architects / CH
The 46,101 square-foot facility encompasses a 50 meter by 25 yard swimming pool with two (2) bulkheads, one (1) 3-meter springboard with concrete stand, and two (2) 1-meter springboards. Spectator accommodations include 960 bench seats, 480 portable bleacher seats, concessions, and public restrooms. Support facilities include a lobby, information desk, dressing facilities, offices, storage, scoring booth, and classroom. The classroom will be utilized during swim meets, training, and instruction.
The structure of the natatorium is configured in a simple rectangular plan with an arched glass main entryway on the west. This entrance welcomes visitors with a spectacular panoramic view of the pool and remarkable array of colors. The structure also consists of masonry walls with acoustical panels, wood glulam beams, and wood plank deck ceiling. Spectators enjoy ideal site lines, as primary circulation spaces are constructed four feet above the pool deck. Clerestory windows in the north and south face of the structure allow direct and indirect natural light to permeate the building.
CFISD-Birdseye – photo credit PBK Architects / CH
ABOUT US: COUNSILMAN-HUNSAKER
The history of Counsilman-Hunsaker is valuable in the context and the confidence it provides. Over the past 45 years, we’ve led the industry by completing more than 1,000 national and international aquatic projects of every size and complexity. In fact, many of the innovations that are now standard in the industry were conceived by our team.
Counsilman-Hunsaker believes that people of all ages are changed for the better through aquatic experiences and that our services reach beyond just solving design, or engineering or facility operational challenges. Our mission is to create aquatic experiences that transform people and communities, which supports our mantra of “Aquatics for Life”. And when we say “Aquatics for Life” we’re talking about the lives of humans we serve through every decision from conception, to the detail of daily operations. By focusing and serving the human experience, our full circle approach to everything we do allows us to be your guide every step of the way from facility audits, to program and design, thru facility creation and day to day operations.
Along the way, we’ve developed an international reputation for innovation and integrity, as people who are passionate about what they do and who do it exceptionally well. Today, our firm consists of an integrated team of designers, engineers and operational specialists with incomparable aquatic industry experience.
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It would be nice if the Round Rock/Austin area High Schools had a pool that would allow our swimmers to compete and train at the same level to those that they compete against. Training outdoors in city rec pools leaves our kids at a disadvantage come championship time. The time is long overdue to bring a 50M competition pool to our area.
@swimdad- the 3.5 depth is not on the competition side of the pool. It is for the 4th grade swim program that the district stands behind. Every 4th grader in the district participates in this Water Safety program. Great opportunity.
In California we have a number of High Schools with inadequate 4 and 6 lane facilities and entire school districts that don’t have a pool yet field seven or eight different High School swimming and water Polo teams for girls and boys. Maybe this is a solution some of our Districts should consider.
Unfortunately, in the Austin area, this is not an option. There is only one indoor pool in this fast-growing metro area that can host a swim and dive competition, and it belongs to the University of Texas. That facility already has to turn away kids for the US swim meets they can host.
No school district in this area has a pool they could share. They rent practice space and have to travel out of town just to compete. There is a great need for an aquatic center in this area.
Pools going up all over the place and Westlake still does not even have a pool. They are the defending Texas State Champions and rent pool time from a tiny neighborhood outdoor pool.
But, I bet they have a big football stadium.
Phil,
How many swimmers that will participate at the 6A Championships actually practice with Westlake HS?
Why would anybody build a competition high school/club pool with a 3.5 foot shallow end? Any swimmer can tell you that wasn’t smart.
The Conroe pool is nice and a good model for an ISD pool. The Pearland pool is okay, but it has some of the poorest ventilation I have seen. Spectators and swimmers alike are not a fan of that pool.
More attention needs to be paid to the actual swim and spectator functionality of these facilities. It is not rocket science…
Both pools are not what is needed for each respective school district or region for that matter. Take a look at the pools in Conroe and Pearland. That is what they should have built.
Opps, I didn’t realize the CFISD pool was 50 meters long until I enlarged the picture. 🙂
It is embarrassing that Round Rock ISD (TX) does not have a Natatorium for its high schools to practice/compete. They all either practice in outdoor pools or rent time from local YMCA.
I don’t see the point in this article. It’s a pool for two school districts in a high school. Not even a single high school but multiple high schools. What about a new pool that was just built in Indiana at Pike high school a brand new 50 meter pool with separate dining room. I keep seeing articles about high school pools on swim swam but never have the articles consisted of Indiana high school pools. Any of you that have ever been to Indiana no the quality and depth of 50 meter pools around the state. I mean come on there’s 12 high school 50 meter pools within a 30 mile radius of downtown Indiana. And we’re not talking… Read more »
i agree that Indiana HS pools are awesome. But the point of this article, i think, is the “Texas Style” pools. The style is that the pools are built for districts that serve several HS’s. This is similar to what they do for football. It is a method of consolidating funds for high expense facilities.