Texas A&M Celebrates Opening of New $7.8 Million Swimming and Diving Facility

On Friday, Texas A&M swimming and diving will celebrate the grand opening of their new dryland and diving gym, the Anne S. & Henry B. “Hank” Paup ’70 Pavilion. 

The $7.8 million renovation and expansion project has been in the works since October 2019 when A&M first announced the groundbreaking of the site. A year later, we reported that the University had revealed the name of the new facility and set a tentative grand opening date of January 2021.

The Anne S. & Henry B. “Hank” Paup ’70 Pavilion (named after the lead donors of the project  Anne S. and Henry B. “Hank” Paup) was designed by Populous, an architectural company responsible for renovating venues including the Texas A&M Kyle Field in 2015, and for designing the football stadium setup for every NFL Superbowl since 1985.

This is the second big architectural update within 3 years for A&M who opened a new 8-lane, 25-yard pool and made renovations to their 50-meter pool in 2018. The Pavilion, which is adjacent to the 50-meter pool, will serve as a training center for the Aggies’ varsity swimming and diving programs.

The renovations reconfigured the existing facility’s home team and visiting team locker rooms, two offices, and storage space and added 11,000 square feet to the building. These additions and alterations include:

• a distinct lobby / entryway
• team lounge
• nutrition area
• coaches offices and locker rooms
• athletic training and hydrotherapy room
• dryland space
• graphics throughout the building of the team logo and TV’s displaying team messages

Populous doubled the height of the original entryway to distinguish it from the rest of the building, added a wood feature wall with integral lighting that will look lanelines, and incorporated a display case into the wall. 

Paup Pavilion Lobby courtesy of Populous

The locker rooms also received a facelift with the addition of wood-tile flooring, a dedicated space to store wet mesh bags, and a set entryway for visitors to enter their locker room during meets. The home locker rooms now have a total of 40 men’s lockers and 46 women’s lockers, which are each 2 feet wide.

Paup Pavilion Women’s Locker Room courtesy of Populous

Paup Pavilion Men’s Locker Room courtesy of Populous

Within the team lounge is the nutrition area featuring a kitchen with a snack display, a small island for the team to gather, a refrigerator, and a pantry. The lounge space for both the men’s and women’s programs also includes a sectional sofa and large TV.

Paup Pavilion Team Lounge courtesy of Populous

Paup Pavilion Nutrition Area courtesy of Populous

Athletes will now have access to an in-ground trampoline, a large spring-floor area for tumbling, rope systems mounted to the ceiling, 3 diving boards above an in-ground foam pit, and 2 diving boards over an above-ground landing mat within the Paup Pavilion’s new dryland space.

Paup Pavilion Diving Boards courtesy of Populous

They added in-ground hot and cold pools for hydrotherapy and updated the athletic training room as well.

Paup Pavilion Hydrotherapy Room courtesy of Populous

Paup Pavilion Athletic Training Room courtesy of Populous

Paup Pavilion Hallway courtesy of Populous

Paup Pavilion Hallway courtesy of Populous

The Texas A&M men’s program is coming off a 2nd place finish at the 2020 SEC Championships under head coach Jay Holmes. The Aggie women’s program placed 6th under head coach Steve Bultman.