Essay Research

SASH Design Guide 2
Swimming Pool Option
Sports Council

SASH  is the acronym for standardised Approach to Sports Hall, an initiative the sports council embarked upon in 1982 as a way to promote the construction of new sports halls. SASH bulidings are constructed by Bouis Construction Limited. to standardised design under licence from the sports Council.

SASH Buildings conform to a detailed breif and performance specification which aims to set the appropriate level of sports provision, design criteria and specification for the building fabric.

The Book is basically a report and I find it a useful learning tool in regards to my specification and what content I need to ensure in my design in regards to who I am catering for and what sort of lengths I should go to in regards to planning my process. Although SASH design entire leisure centres, the do conform to the same points that I need to. I also find this book will be useful when I go to write my essay. It has a good structure and gives me a good idea of how much I should write at each stage and what way I should word my essay.

Here are some headings I have taken from the report, using my own explanations to each.

Primary Objective

Design a Swimming Poolto facilitate for the needs of the community and in particular, families.

Level of Provision

The Swimming Pool would be targeted at families and people within the local community first and foremost. However, I would also like to target outsiders such as tourists and our neighbours from over the boarder. The upcoming 'City of Culture' award, as well as a string of upcoming events should help this.

Levels of Activity

The public swimming pool should cater for recreational swimmers of all ages, but, in particular, families. I want to encourage family time and family learning in particular as I feel there is a need for this.

Legislative Requirements

Must comply with:
Europeign Standards
Chronically sick and disabled persons Act 1981
Health and Safety at work Act
The Play and Leisure Implementation Plan 2011
(As well as the usual required legislation)

Internal Environment

The swimming pool should be durable and constructed using high durability materials which are non corrosive. Pathways should be non slip and Glass should be reinforced.
-The interior shall be made attractive through the use of appropiate materials such as Glass. I would use glass to create an aquarium style pool. This will be useful for learning reasons. Other children will be able to see people swimming and see what way they are moving and imitate them to teach themselves. Also, swim teachers will be able to see what their students are doing right and what they are doing wrong. Glass and transparent materials can work very well with water, especially if the correct lighting is put in place.
-Space and lighting. Lighting must compliment the space and vise versa. Light can completely transform an environment if used in different ways and light, with water, will only intensify this.
-Calming colours such as blues and purples and neutral pale colours can create a mood and work very well with the surrounding environment. Although public pools are usually noisy and very active, I would like to create quiet spots in which the colours will indicate a calmer, less active area.
-Water features will cause a more interesting and therefore more fun space. Sprinkler type features and Jets and running water can bring a sense of adventure of the environment. It can also affect the sound in the space bringing more calming and soothing sounds of rain falling, bubbling brooke, running tap, or waterfall sounds.
-Graphics relating to the pool can be added at the end, such as swimming stroke instructions and learning guidelines. These could be designed in a way which would work with the mood of the interior and be made quite visually effective.

Changing Facilities

60 plus spaces would be the normal recommendation for public swimming pools due to school groups or swimming classes all occupieng the pool at the same time. I am not redesigning the changing rooms, however I would like to have some pool side changing facilities surrounding the family pool (10 Maximum).

Planning Design

- Plan view layouts
- Elevation view layouts
- To Scale plans aswell as not to scale plans
- Indication of thought process
- Trial and error
- Plan in relation to existing spaces so can be displayed against reality
- Materials
- Ground and first floor plans
- Layouts showing how optional features/ facilities can be added.
- Stairways/ entrances/ changing rooms (just to indicate where they are).

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Bathing Spaces
Designer for Pampering Body and Soul
Ali Hannan
Rockport



This book is quite useful as it describes why a well designed bathing space is important. It notes how important water is to people and also, to different cultures and different ways in which people use water and bathing in different manners. They call it 'The Art of Bathing' which is their opening Title. They have quite a few images of well designed bathing spaces and include alot of useful tips when using water in design. Alot of their influences come from Japanese Design and this is something I would like to look at in more detail. Another thing this book brought up which I would also like to look at in more detail is the ways that water is used in different cultures and how water can make people feel. An interesting quote from the book is

 'Americians bathe to clean, Japenese clean to bathe.'

and also,

'If bathing is the art, then the bathroom is the gallery'.