The Aquatic Centre, perhaps the only element of Sports Campus Ireland that will ever be built, adds some sparkle to a bleak suburban landscape, writes Frank McDonald
The Government and the Irish people would be very proud of the National Aquatic Centre at Abbotstown, west Dublin, when it opens next February, according to the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue. Having paid €62 million for it, they could hardly be otherwise.
Although still a hard-hat site, with not a drop of water to be seen apart from drizzling rain, the facilities looked bright, even sparkling. And that's what S&P Architects intended when they designed the complex in late 2000 as the first element of the ill-fated and overblown Sports Campus Ireland project.
Statistics are rattled off to demonstrate its impressive scale. Twelve double-deck buses could be submerged in the diving pool. It would require 25,000 domestic baths to fill the competition pools and indoor water park. The white and blue tiles, laid end to end, would stretch from Dublin to Tralee.
More impressive still is the fact that it has all been pulled together from initial design to virtual completion in just two years, despite a huge debacle over the contract to operate it being awarded to a shelf company and the subsequent resignation of Mr Paddy Teahon as head of the Sports Campus project.
Given that the national stadium and its attendant retinue of other sports facilities may never be built, it is fortunate that the site selected for the aquatic centre is on a main road halfway between the Blanchardstown Shopping Centre and the Institute of Technology, with the James Connolly Memorial Hospital just behind it.
Ms Laura Magahy, whose company provided executive services for the project, also pointed out that all parking is located to the rear of the complex, leaving its frontage to be landscaped. She felt that was important to distinguish the centre from industrial facilities in the area, all of which are buildings in car-park settings.
Mr Scott Wallace, Glasgow-born director of S&P Architects, said that the design challenge was to break up the bulk of the complex using a contemporary approach and a palette of materials which avoided mere gimmickry. As a result, it reads as three distinct elements: the competition pool, the indoor water park and the link between them.
The water park is finished in buff-coloured reconstituted stone flanked by red terracotta panels. The much larger competition pool is clad in red cedar and silvery-grey powder-coated aluminium under a massive barrel-vaulted roof, while the entrance level is marked by a cone-shaped glazed drum above a very broad flight of steps.
Wide-span "Toblerone" steel trusses, similar to the Odyssey complex in Belfast, hold up the main roof, to give the 2,500 spectators clear views.
Nine bands of rooflights filter daylight through even in dull weather, and all the steelwork inside is painted white to provide maximum reflectivity, which should work well with the water.
Sail-like canopies are to be erected over the first-floor terrace outside to provide shelter for spectators queueing for major competitions.
Underneath, members of the public will have direct access from the indoor water park to the pools when they are not in use for competitions.
Dressing-rooms are also located at the lower level.
Flexibility has also been built into the design of the 50-metre pool, which can be divided in three by submersible booms. But even the installation of floating floors would not allow the main space to be used as an event arena.
The technology also includes a combined heat and power (CHP) plant which provides energy for the centre.
The indoor water park, which is larger than the Aquadome in Tralee, has a variety of new "rides" which will appeal to children in particular. But whether 395 car-parking spaces will be enough to cater for the anticipated one million visitors a year is doubtful, especially with no firm plans to serve Abbotstown with a rail link.
Mr Wallace, whose firm is involved in other pool projects in Athy, Tuam, Thurles and Stillorgan, described the National Aquatic Centre as "a unique facility that is capable of standing alone". That, indeed, may be its fate. But at least it provides an architectural splash in an otherwise bleak suburban landscape.