Just Add Water

If there were ever any doubt about just how much people love aquatic venues, from swimming pools and splash pads to aquatic parks and hot tubs, just witness what happened when these facilities were forced to shut down in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The sudden run on backyard water features in the summer of 2020 left plenty of families scrambling to figure out how to get their piece of the backyard water fun.

Many will be relieved as facilities begin to return to a more normal pace of operation, and they might even find things a little better upon their return, as plenty of aquatic facilities took advantage of the downtime to do some much-needed maintenance and even improvement.

At any rate, there's no denying the fact now. People are drawn to water, and when they can't get their water fun one way, they'll look for another. So it's really no surprise that aquatic facility designs have become increasingly innovative, and aquatic facility programming has become increasingly diverse.

For this year's Guide to Aquatic Design, we talked with some of the most creative and accomplished aquatic design professionals around to find out more about how the pandemic has changed aquatic design, as well as how to plan, design and operate a successful aquatic facility.

If you're planning aquatic-related construction, whether it's a completely new facility or you're just looking to update what you've already got, there's plenty of inspiration here to help you get the ball rolling.

Happy Swimming!

Emily Tipping
Editorial Director,
Recreation Management
[email protected]