A site has been selected for a new $80-million Adelaide aquatic centre, with South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas revealing the new location in early September.
The new centre, designed by JPE Design Studio and Warren and Mahoney, will be built just south of the existing parklands site, North Adelaide, on an oval in the south-western quadrant of Denise Norton Park.
The site has been selected to replace that of the aging centre run by Adelaide City Council, which has been deemed no longer fit for purpose after many of its facilities, including diving boards and spas, have closed because of safety concerns. Once the 50-year-old facility is demolished, this site will be returned to community parkland.
The announcement follows a four-month public consultation period, which garnered nearly 1,000 submissions from locals and pool users, with 55 percent backing the south-west location. Malinauskas said the south-western site was preferred because it would result in the least number of felled trees in the development process.
Adelaide-based architecture practice JPE Design Studio will work with aquatic and recreation architecture specialists Warren and Mahoney to design a more modern and accessible facility, with the design phase slated to take around nine months.
Infrastructure minister Tom Koutsantonis said the new site will have the same footprint as the existing centre, once it opens in 2026.
“In terms of the square-meterage it will probably be like for like, but it might be a different configuration,” said Koutsantonis. “What we’ve decided to do is to set it back to try to retain as many trees and vegetation as we possibly can.”
Malinauskas said that the existing aquatic centre would stay open while the replacement facility is built, with construction starting in 2023.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
