Lap pool suggestions

The biggest things are : metric pool (25m or 50m) and deep enough to dive
head first into the deep end. 1.2m deep minimum at the shallow end as well.

Micheal

"Al" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:MPG.1c7488914aeab5e89897d7@mayonews...

Quoted message said:

I was recently solicited for suggestions on a lap pool being built by
our company for employees, as part of a new fitness center. There will
be a seperate special needs pool. My initial thoughts might be overly
competition focused, since that is my (distant) background:

1. 25 yards (meters?)
2. Wake diminishing gutters
3. 8 ft deep (especially if the special needs pool also accommodates
beginning swimmers)
4. Competition lines on the bottom with crosses at the end
5. Provision for backstroke flags
6. Provision (bolt holes) for a starting block or two to accommodate
individual time trials(?)

I strongly doubt that meets will never be held in the pool.

Obviously somebody with some pool construction knowledge needs to jump
in :-) Although I don't have a good handle on budgetary constraints
yet, I think a 50 meter pool would be out of reach.

More details to follow for anyone that's interested - in the meantime,
suggestions are appreciated!

Thanks,
Al

Quoted message said:

I was recently solicited for suggestions
on a lap pool being built by our company
for employees, as part of a new fitness
center. There will be a seperate special
needs pool. My initial thoughts might be
overly competition focused, since that is
my (distant) background:
1. 25 yards (meters?)
2. Wake diminishing gutters
3. 8 ft deep (especially if the special
needs pool also accommodates
beginning swimmers)
4. Competition lines on the bottom with
crosses at the end
5. Provision for backstroke flags
6. Provision (bolt holes) for a starting
block or two to accommodate individual
time trials(?)

Quoted message said:

I strongly doubt that meets will never be
held in the pool.
Obviously somebody with some pool
construction knowledge needs to jump in
:-) Although I don't have a good handle
on budgetary constraints yet, I think a 50
meter pool would be out of reach.
More details to follow for anyone that's
interested - in the meantime,
suggestions are appreciated!

Your suggestions sound good, especially the gutters (haven't seen too
many lap pools with gutters), but how many lanes are you considering?

SC

Micheal Artindale said:

The biggest things are : metric pool (25m or 50m) and deep enough to

dive

Quoted message said:

head first into the deep end. 1.2m deep minimum at the shallow end as

well.

Just out of interest;
Which is better for swimming in, (assuming the swimmer has a reasonable
level of skill); pools with one depth throughout, or the ones with a
gradiant.

Al said:

I was recently solicited for suggestions on a lap pool being built by
our company for employees, as part of a new fitness center. There will
be a seperate special needs pool. My initial thoughts might be overly
competition focused, since that is my (distant) background:

1. 25 yards (meters?)
2. Wake diminishing gutters
3. 8 ft deep (especially if the special needs pool also accommodates
beginning swimmers)
4. Competition lines on the bottom with crosses at the end
5. Provision for backstroke flags
6. Provision (bolt holes) for a starting block or two to accommodate
individual time trials(?)

I strongly doubt that meets will never be held in the pool.

Obviously somebody with some pool construction knowledge needs to jump
in :-) Although I don't have a good handle on budgetary constraints
yet, I think a 50 meter pool would be out of reach.

More details to follow for anyone that's interested - in the meantime,
suggestions are appreciated!

Thanks,
Al

What about
- 25M
- heated
- having backstroke lines on the ceiling would be a nice touch
- nice changing rooms

gtoomey

Quoted message said:

Micheal Artindale said:

The biggest things are : metric pool (25m or 50m) and deep enough to

dive

Quoted message said:

head first into the deep end. 1.2m deep minimum at the shallow end as

well.

Just out of interest;
Which is better for swimming in, (assuming the swimmer has a reasonable
level of skill); pools with one depth throughout, or the ones with a
gradiant.

In olympic competition they prefer 10 lanes & constant depth.

gtoomey

Gregory Toomey said:

Al said:

I was recently solicited for suggestions on a lap pool being built

by

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

our company for employees, as part of a new fitness center. There

will

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

be a seperate special needs pool. My initial thoughts might be

overly

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

competition focused, since that is my (distant) background:

1. 25 yards (meters?)
2. Wake diminishing gutters
3. 8 ft deep (especially if the special needs pool also

accommodates

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

beginning swimmers)
4. Competition lines on the bottom with crosses at the end
5. Provision for backstroke flags
6. Provision (bolt holes) for a starting block or two to

accommodate

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

individual time trials(?)

I strongly doubt that meets will never be held in the pool.

Obviously somebody with some pool construction knowledge needs to

jump

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

in :-) Although I don't have a good handle on budgetary

constraints

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

yet, I think a 50 meter pool would be out of reach.

More details to follow for anyone that's interested - in the

meantime,

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

suggestions are appreciated!

Thanks,
Al

What about
- 25M
- heated
- having backstroke lines on the ceiling would be a nice touch
- nice changing rooms

gtoomey

Nice changing rooms is a good suggestion. Which reminds me to mention
ambient temperature controls, but I don't know if this is for an indoor
pool or not.
Bad ambient temperature can result in the feeling of a draught passing
along any exposed skin, i.e. not underwater.
Would an experienced architect in such matters be to obvious a
suggestion?

Al said:

I was recently solicited for suggestions on a lap pool being built by
our company for employees,

Lucky you 🙂.

Quoted message said:

1. 25 yards (meters?)

As long as they are willing to pay 🙂.

Quoted message said:

4. Competition lines on the bottom with crosses at the end

Plus the crosses on the sides of the pool (for flip turns afaik).

There should be a small step under the waterline where the swimmers
could stand and listen to their teacher/coach, and it should be
possible to easily hold themselves at the border of the pool when
standing there.

Check for the lane dividers - they should be soft (to prevent damage
on toes and fingers), easy to attach/detach and if possible should
absorb some of the waves from the other lanes.

Don't forget the surrounding of the pool:

- the floor should be non-slippery (been to a just build pool once
where I had to pay a lot of attention when walking to the pool)

- get as much daylight as possible

- get something colourful and funny for one side of the pool area
(maybe there's a school around with an art class willing to paint a
wall?)

- place a picture on another wall, explaining how circle swimming
works

- on one side there should be a bench or seating area, for placing
bags, chatting with others and listening to instructions.

- showers: care for a good temperature range and a gentle stream. And
they should be placed not too far away from the pool and the toilets.

- air temperature is as important as the pool water temperature.

- there should be benches in the changing room

- to have some music playing could be nice

Sybille

BIG SNIP

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

More details to follow for anyone that's interested - in the

meantime,

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

suggestions are appreciated!

Thanks,
Al

What about
- 25M
- heated
- having backstroke lines on the ceiling would be a nice touch
- nice changing rooms

gtoomey

Nice changing rooms is a good suggestion. Which reminds me to mention
ambient temperature controls, but I don't know if this is for an indoor
pool or not.
Bad ambient temperature can result in the feeling of a draught passing
along any exposed skin, i.e. not underwater.
Would an experienced architect in such matters be to obvious a
suggestion?

Not only nice changing rooms, but private changing rooms and remember to
do separate shower stalls and not the usual prison-type showers. You
don't want employees suing each other. For a workplace pool, you may
even want to consider showers with locks. (personally I feel LESS not
MORE self-conscious with the big open shower room, but I think I'm a
miniority on this. When I shower alone I just wonder where all the
other people are...)

Something that I love about the pools at Carnegie Mellon and at the
University of Pittsburgh is the large windows that allow the pool to
have natural light rather than the horrible florescent light that my
childhood pool had. Consider as many windows as you can afford in your
design.
Madelaine

Quoted message said:

More details to follow for anyone that's interested - in the

meantime,

Quoted message said:

suggestions are appreciated!

Hire an architect. :-) Is there already a floor slab? Or are you
enclosing new space?

You started with "lap pool" but described a competition pool. You can
probably *get by* with 20 yards/60 feet in length to do laps before the
turns become too frequent, but 25 meters would be so much nicer. Back
flags and starting blocks are cheap; competition gutters are not so
cheap. Depth of 1.2 meters sounds about right for laps, but if they're
going to hold beer parties too, you'd better build one end 8' to 3m
deep for high-spirited divers.

Good luck.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Would an experienced architect in such matters be to obvious a
suggestion?

You definitely want a good architect. You're talking about an expensive
facility. There are lots of nit-picky details (such as adding an extra
cm to each end of the pool so the length is 25.00 meters after you
install touch panels) that amateurs like us would forget.

You may not be hosting the NCAA nationals, but you still want your
facility to be legal should you ever decide to host a local age-group or
masters club. Choose an architect who has done competition pools
before, and specify that you want it legal according to FINA, NCAA, and
USA Swimming rules.

You also want it to be a pleasant facility, which is where such add-ons
as windows, showers, and tanning decks come in.

As for sloping vs. flat: You may not have a choice. Will there be a
separate diving well? Or must the diving well be part of the main pool?
In either case, you want the depth to be the same for all lanes (deep
water is faster than shallow water).

Ross

Madelaine said:

Not only nice changing rooms, but private changing rooms and remember to
do separate shower stalls and not the usual prison-type showers. You
don't want employees suing each other. For a workplace pool, you may
even want to consider showers with locks. (personally I feel LESS not
MORE self-conscious with the big open shower room, but I think I'm a
miniority on this. When I shower alone I just wonder where all the
other people are...)

Finally, for the first time, I can disagree with Madelaine, from whom I
was beginning to think I was separated at birth.

One of the things that drove me away from the Y, besides the ice water,
was the private changing rooms. I got claustrophobic and sensory
deprived. I dearly love the gang shower, all our misshapen bodies
hanging out while we talk about the latest DVD release or anything else.
For people like me who work in isolation, it is a very cheery time
spent with people whom I would very unlikely seek out, yet I find I can
make very pleasant connections with them. It is as much a highlight of
the day as is the swimming. The thought of a lock makes me tremble. I
lock nothing. Not my car or the locker or anything else. I have a deep
horror of locks.

Yet, considering we're discussing what's desirable in a new facility, I
should mention I have noticed the youngest swimmers lately have begun to
do towel changes. Fun to watch as they contort not to reveal anything,
which of course arouses curiosity: is there something there I don't
have? This recent habit would best be taken into consideration when
building something new, but I would think the hang-up would pass into
history, so maybe by the time the building is up, the need would be gone.

Ruth Kazez

Although, having more windows make the pool more dangerous from a lifeguards
point of view as the glare means that you cannot see the bottom. Swings and
roundabouts eh? Our pool uses a good combo of quite a few windows and some
good fluro flood lights.

Charlie.

"Madelaine" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Something that I love about the pools at Carnegie Mellon and at the
University of Pittsburgh is the large windows that allow the pool to
have natural light rather than the horrible florescent light that my
childhood pool had. Consider as many windows as you can afford in your
design.
Madelaine

rtk said:

Madelaine said:

Not only nice changing rooms, but private changing rooms and remember
to do separate shower stalls and not the usual prison-type showers.

SNIP

Quoted message said:

Yet, considering we're discussing what's desirable in a new facility, I
should mention I have noticed the youngest swimmers lately have begun to
do towel changes. Fun to watch as they contort not to reveal anything,
which of course arouses curiosity: is there something there I don't
have? This recent habit would best be taken into consideration when
building something new, but I would think the hang-up would pass into
history, so maybe by the time the building is up, the need would be gone.

Ruth Kazez

The youth are very, very worried about the other youth armed with camera
phones. They are probably taking pics of you, Ruth, and sending text
messages saying things like, "this woman is 40 at least, and yet she
walks around nude and swims all the time. When does she have time to
play with her playstation?"
Madelaine

"Madelaine" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

rtk said:

Madelaine said:

Not only nice changing rooms, but private changing rooms and remember to
do separate shower stalls and not the usual prison-type showers.

SNIP

Quoted message said:

Yet, considering we're discussing what's desirable in a new facility, I
should mention I have noticed the youngest swimmers lately have begun to
do towel changes. Fun to watch as they contort not to reveal anything,
which of course arouses curiosity: is there something there I don't have?
This recent habit would best be taken into consideration when building
something new, but I would think the hang-up would pass into history, so
maybe by the time the building is up, the need would be gone.

Ruth Kazez

The youth are very, very worried about the other youth armed with camera
phones. They are probably taking pics of you, Ruth, and sending text
messages saying things like, "this woman is 40 at least, and yet she walks
around nude and swims all the time. When does she have time to play with
her playstation?"
Madelaine

Have a look at this girls.
(23.09 for 1500m - going to sleep now!!)

http://www.theregister.com/2003/09/11/uk_firms_tout_camera_phone/

Cheers

Dolph

Madelaine said:

The youth are very, very worried about the other youth armed with camera
phones. They are probably taking pics of you, Ruth, and sending text
messages saying things like, "this woman is 40 at least, and yet she
walks around nude and swims all the time. When does she have time to
play with her playstation?"
Madelaine

YIKES! I never thought of that. No wonder they're worried. That
really is a troubling thought. Do I just set my teeny phone/camera on
the towel, so no one will guess? It's not waterproof, so the shower is
out.

Speaking of gang showers ours is the most persuasive ad for the need for
attention to our bodies that can be seen. I swim at a time set aside
for *Special Population,* a euphemism for old, crippled, or retarded.
They do allow me to bring in swimming partners, but otherwise the view
in the shower is startling. And those are the relatively fit among old
women. They come regularly for aquasize, so the women who aren't there
must be in worse shape. It is really appalling and you have to wonder
how anyone allows her/himself to fall apart like that. I should really
just say herself; the men are in very much better shape. I suppose this
is a result of the beliefs prevalent when they were girls and young
women that exercise was unseemly and muscle downright ugly. We should
be very thankful for all the societal changes in attitudes towards
women's sports. Until I was 13 I was a quite gifted wrestler and of
course that was laughed at. I didn't care. Laugh hard enough and I'd
beat you up. I think I can still do it. Tucked into my ancient skinny
arm, halfway between elbow and shoulder, is a rock. I take huge pride
in that useful rock even though it wasn't an achievement; I was born
with it. I have been taking Larry's advice and trying to put it to good
use in the pool.

I will need it today because the workout is 3000 divided into:
1x200
2x175
3x150
4x125
5x100
6x75
7x50
8x25
Every other number is IM and all toys are used here and there.

Ruth Kazez

Another thought I had in the shower this morning, goes to the
programmatic question again. Is your company looking for fun swimming,
fitness swimming or a serious athletic facility? You could build a 20
x 40 recreational pool and add a few endless pool lanes to make it a
very compact fitness pool as well.

Man o' Tea said:

Another thought I had in the shower this morning, goes to the
programmatic question again. Is your company looking for fun

swimming,

Quoted message said:

fitness swimming or a serious athletic facility? You could build a

20

Quoted message said:

x 40 recreational pool and add a few endless pool lanes to make it a
very compact fitness pool as well.

The pool I used to go too up to last august was ozone treated. They
only used about 2% chlorine. Only very few people ever noticed it. I
understand there are even modern-er filtration systems.
It was indoor too, but due to a design fault the air temperature was a
pain. The water temperature target was 28C
The gutters were perfect. No overhead flag lanes, which would have
being handy at times. Backstroke depended on finding a focal point on
the ceiling, (like a concrete beam... but they all looked the same,
more or less)
A darker line of tiles ran down the lenght of the pool in line with
the centre of the lanes (& the 2 optional lanes too)
It was all 1.2m deep,x 25m long and accomodated the same as 5 lanes, of
which only 3 were actual lanes (though I sometimes found their width a
bit tight when meeting an oncoming swimmer.
The remainder could be roped off for lanes but wasn't. This allowed for
the more recreational swimmer and fitness classes, swimming lessons and
so on.
Diving was not on the menu, but quite a few swimmers did it from time
to time in spite of the large polite request notice not to do so.
Interestingly, many of these divers seemed to need glasses if belly
flopping unto other swimmers is anything to go by.
The changing rooms were quite apart and between the pool and the
changing rooms was a sort of loading bay area. Chilly! Daft. But
overall quite a nice pool.

rtk said:

Yet, considering we're discussing what's desirable in a new facility, I
should mention I have noticed the youngest swimmers lately have begun to
do towel changes. Fun to watch as they contort not to reveal anything,
which of course arouses curiosity: is there something there I don't
have? This recent habit would best be taken into consideration when
building something new, but I would think the hang-up would pass into
history, so maybe by the time the building is up, the need would be gone.

I'm a 21 year old who just began learning to swim (absurd on this group,
I know). I'm actually in a class.

Locker rooms are a bit strange, yes. When I go to swim outside of
class, during rec swim hours, there are generally older people there
and they are quite unashamed with their nakedness. At class, however,
everyone does towel-changes and showers in their trunks.

I don't think this hang-up is going anywhere. I get the impression that
the current generation (my generation) is a lot more conservative, in
some ways, than past generations have been.

Just my two cents.

Blake Hyde said:

Locker rooms are a bit strange, yes. When I go to swim outside of
class, during rec swim hours, there are generally older people there
and they are quite unashamed with their nakedness. At class, however,
everyone does towel-changes and showers in their trunks.

I don't think this hang-up is going anywhere. I get the impression that
the current generation (my generation) is a lot more conservative, in
some ways, than past generations have been.

Just my two cents.

I'm sure you don't mean ashamed, which implies some kind of guilt, but
embarrassed, maybe? It's a surprising development, considering the far
greater openness about bodies and sex since the days when those
unembarrassed old guys were your age. Something doesn't jibe. Could
the greater permissiveness of nudity or near nudity in movies, mtv, and
clothing, generally, have resulted is a greater sense of vulnerability
rather than the expected sense of freedom? Is it possible that one
feels everyone's eyes are now wide-open rather than tastefully down-cast
in a locker room? Still, it doesn't quite explain the women's locker
room towel changes. We see each other every day and we really don't
stare. The young women definitely have a sense of something that I don't
see. We don't see each other outside the locker room, so that element
doesn't play a part. No cell phones (with or without camera) allowed at
the Y, where everyone is young and all are doing the towel dress dance.
Not easy, it's almost as contorted as the robot. In fact, that would be
good, the towel change dance.

Ruth Kazez