The new facility has been designed to respect the sensitive site context whilst creating a strong and inviting visual presence
– Mike Hall, FaulknerBrowns partner

The city council of Derby, UK, has unveiled ambitious plans for a new swimming and leisure facility designed by international design practice FaulknerBrowns Architects and overseen by project managers Mace.

The proposals include a ten-lane, 50m swimming pool; a leisure water area for families; a learner pool; a gym; fitness studios; a sauna; steam rooms; a café and a soft play area.

The adaptable main pool will contain two booms and two moving floors, affording the facility the flexibility to form three separate 25m swimming spaces or a wide variety of other arrangements.

The complex – which will replace an older swimming centre alongside the city’s Moorways Athletic Stadium – has been conceived with a simple, modular design featuring two differentiated volumes: a ‘wet’ box and a ‘dry’ box.

A silver palate of materials will be used to reflect and celebrate the city’s links with the aerospace industry.

The complex will be placed in woodland, and to address the challenges presented by the undulating landscape, boxes will be stacked perpendicularly, creating a natural entrance in the ‘dry’ upper volume.

Large glass openings at either end of each box will respond to the different characters of the setting.

According to FaulknerBrowns, the natural context “provides the opportunity to create a leisure destination where visitors can be active in an uplifting natural setting.”

The architects previously designed the £24m Derby Arena – a multi-purpose venue featuring a 250m cycling track, 12 court sports hall and a fitness centre.

Michael Hall, partner at the practice, said: “It is a great pleasure to be working with the council again to integrate this 50m pool complex into its natural setting at Moorways. The new facility has been designed to respect the sensitive site context whilst creating a strong and inviting visual presence which draws inspiration from the city’s proud engineering heritage.”

Other UK leisure projects in the pipeline for FaulknerBrowns include a water park in Coventry, a large regenerative masterplan for Bangor and an indoor sports centre for the University of Portsmouth.

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