On Nov. 16, the City of Piedmont and ELS Architecture and Urban Design facilitated the second of a three‐part series to develop the design of the Piedmont Community Pool. Nearly 100 people gathered at Veterans Hall, bringing our attendance across two workshops and an online survey to more than 300 community members. Working as part of a charrette, participants analyzed the relative benefits of three potential schemes, each showing various options of building shape and location in relation to the pools and surrounding neighborhood. Workshop #2 culminated in the successful selection of a single preferred scheme.
The Piedmont Community Pool project is funded by bond measure UU and will be built at 777 Magnolia Ave. The facility will include at least two pools plus a two‐story support building. The state‐of‐the‐art design will meet LEED Silver, WELL v2, and CAL Green Building Code requirements with a goal of eliminating the need for fossil fuels. The design will be completed in the fourth quarter of 2022; a grand opening is scheduled for summer 2024.
The building of Scheme C – the clear and overwhelming favorite of participants in Workshop #2 – is an L-shaped floor plan that nestles into the northeast corner of the site, embracing the pools to the southwest, acknowledging the tennis courts to the north and providing a civic presence to the east and south. The site plan allows for a welcoming plaza at the corner of Magnolia and Bonita.
The building is two stories. On the ground floor are the lobby, locker rooms, pool mechanical room, offices, family changing rooms, and a party room. On the second floor, restrooms, electrical/mechanical room, and three multi‐purpose rooms will facilitate various programming needs. The deep water competition pool is 25 yards by 27 meters, allowing 12 lap lanes for 25-yard course swimming and a high school regulation‐size water polo course with floating goals.
As the site plan advances, we will further analyze the pools’ connection to the property between the Rec building and the residence to the north. We will also explore fun‐water pool sizing and features as well as storage, spectator seating, additional lawn/green space, and other details – all of which will be presented to the community at the upcoming Workshop #3.
On Nov. 18, following the workshop, ELS also presented to the Pool Advisory Committee. The session recapped the workshop presentation and reviewed the results of the charrette. Following the presentation, a public comment session touched on numerous topics including pool programming and design, sustainability, and strategies for eliminating greenhouse gases.
For this project’s next steps, ELS will continue to advance the programming and conceptual design effort. This effort will be based upon the preferred Concept C. This work will be ready for presentation, comment, and critique as part of Piedmont Community Pool Workshop #3, which will be held on Dec. 14 from 7‐8:30pm.
More information on the final Piedmont Community Pool Workshop can be found at http://piedmontcommunitypool.eventbrite.com. If you missed Piedmont Community Pool Workshop #2 or if you would like to make additional comments, you can view the three design schemes, type your comments in the space provided, and vote for your preferred scheme in this survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/piedmontcommunitypoolworkshop2.
We appreciate our community’s readiness to attend these important workshops. Your thoughts are invaluable to this process.
Thanks,
The City of Piedmont and the ELS Team