What is driving current thinking for leisure, wellness + aquatic facility design, incorporating diversity, inclusion and sustainable design

What is driving current thinking for leisure, wellness + aquatic facility design, incorporating diversity, inclusion and sustainable design?
by John Byleveld, Stephen Cheney and Michael Hegarty dwp | design worldwide partnership

dwp | design worldwide partnership offers a number of specialist design skills to clients that require complex buildings and campuses, including health, hospitality, education, industrial, science and research facilities. One of the specialist sector skills that we present to clients is for sports and recreation facilities, and aquatic facilities are among the most complex of these. There are a range of user groups and a range of specialist provisions for each facility depending on it’s immediate location, and the areas of focus, whether competitive sports, leisure, recreation, learning, community wellness or social provision.

Aquatic design for public swimming centres in Australia for example is becoming increasingly more centered on creating facilities that are true community hubs, offering a broad spectrum of things to do, from passive to active, that appeal to people of all ages and abilities. Separate elite facilities are being provided in parallel to take competitive sports facility provision into line with international benchmarks in Europe, Asia and North America.

dwp has led innovation to the aquatics industry over many decades. Northcote Aquatic Centre, Victoria was the first aquatic centre designed by dwp’s aquatic facility specialist consultant Stephen Cheney and at the time was the largest outdoor Aquatic centre in the southern hemisphere. Stephen’s innovations included Northcote being the first centre in Australia to incorporate beach entry and Ozone water treatment. Acknowledged as Australia’s foremost aquatic centre specialist, Stephen was the first architect to work with recreation planners, developing significant rigor to the briefing, master-planning and design of recreation facilities.
Further project developments included the first integrated active waterplay system, together with warm water program pool incorporating a moveable pool floor systems allowing greater programmability from one water body.