Once upon a time, an outdoor pool was a simple rectangle with maybe a diving board or two. These days, outdoor aquatics provide a far more complex experience, pleasing patrons of all ages and abilities.

In the past several years, more and more recreation, sports and fitness facilities are being designed in concert with healthcare facilities, providing people a way to transition through recovery to a life a wellness.

Most municipalities are home to a ballfield or two, but some parks districts and departments go above and beyond to create sports parks that are true destinations, able to host pick-up games as well as tournaments.

While cardio floors, weight areas and group fitness rooms are part and parcel of most fitness facilities, there are many niches that come and go as trends change. Here's how to design a facility that can roll with the changes.

Wesley King, director of aquatics at Galter LifeCenter in Chicago, has loved swimming since he was a kid, spending the summers playing with his younger brother in their in-ground swimming pool in Peoria, Ill., and even volunteering to help build a new waterpark as a teenager.

Sustainable site design means different things in different environments. This feature will consider some of the important ways sustainable design is affecting parks and sites in different areas.

John Stewart, head groundskeeper for New York's Syracuse Chiefs, a Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, always has been interested in baseball, the outdoors and learning about the environment.

Situated right outside the entrance to the InfoCision football stadium at the University of Akron in Ohio is a special new addition—a John W. Heisman Custom Bronze Statue.

Situated right outside the entrance to the InfoCision football stadium at the University of Akron in Ohio is a special new addition—a John W. Heisman Custom Bronze Statue.