William L. Welch Community Swimming Pool (State College, PA)

The ELA-designed facility invites patrons to the main entrance, with reaching fingers of washed concrete exposing multi-colored earth-toned pebbles. The first view of the facility is the active spray ground, featuring various vibrant-colored spray structures, gently misting and blanketing 1,650 s.f. of the interactive play area.

Beyond the spray, ground are endless joys in the 7,750 s.f. recreation pool, which provides an interactive play structure, a current channel for floating and aerobic workouts, a water vortex, and two water slides.

Adjacent to the recreation pool is the 8-lane, 25-yard competition pool, which has two 1-meter diving boards and is used for competitive swim meets, exercise, and instructional programs.

ELA Group integrated colors, textures, materials, and shapes into the site design to enhance patrons’ experience and complement the pools’ shapes and forms. The site’s slopes enabled retaining walls from 2’ height to 8’ height to be used as seat walls and as backdrops for lounge chairs. Pockets of synthetic turf are provided throughout the pool deck to provide a clean alternative surface for patrons to relax around the pools. Beyond the retaining walls, the gentle sloping site was formed to create a terraced area for viewing the competition pool during swim meets and functions, while the sloped areas beyond provide open grass areas for patrons to sunbathe and overlook the entire facility.