North Myrtle Beach Aquatic & Fitness Center

The North Myrtle Beach Aquatic & Fitness Center is a facility for all ages. It features a natatorium, a large fitness center, aerobics rooms, a gym and a running track. The main entrance of the facility opens into a lobby with a dramatic view into the pool. The lobby separates the administrative areas from the activity areas to clearly define the facility’s public and staff spaces, with control provided at the lobby reception desk.

A convenient child-care drop-off is located along the hall leading to the locker rooms and activity spaces. The locker rooms are centrally located with direct access into the pool. A specialneeds locker area has been provided featuring four accessible changing rooms that can also be used by elderly people who need to assist their spouses, or parents with children of the opposite sex. One of these changing rooms is specially designed for use by quadriplegics.

All interior finishes are economical but colorful. Creative use of paint and vinyl tile, as well as patterned flooring, add aesthetic appeal and carry the facility’s logo colors of orange, teal and purple through the facility. The natatorium features an economical, broomfinished concrete pool deck and brightly painted functional components, including spiral ductwork. The use of acoustical panels along the north wall of the natatorium mirrors the pattern of the clerestory windows along the south wall and visually balances the space.

For reasons of economy, the building exterior uses simple materials and shapes — except the main entrance, which is distinguished by a curved metal roof, arched storefront glazing and split-faced piers with brick stripes.