Ensworth School Natatorium

Nashville, TN
Construction Cost: $18.84 million
Area / Square Feet: 50,000
Occupancy Date: December 2012

The Ensworth School Natatorium, a peer to some of the finest collegiate aquatic venues in the country, integrates seamlessly into the campus environment — not only aesthetically, but in the way it has been designed to serve multiple purposes. The pool facilities allow for both competition and fitness programs, and movable bulkheads in the main pool provide multiple configurations that permit both diving and swimming events to occur simultaneously. The bulkheads also can be moved to allow training for collegiate long-course events, as well as high school competitions.

A separate instructional pool provides an appropriate environment for teaching beginning swimming, as well as accommodating water volleyball and other fitness activities. The deck-level gutter in the instructional pool creates visual flow out to the main terrace and the football stadium, and large roof trusses with a rounded bottom chord add a level of elegance in the competition pool space. Natural light floods the building’s interior, designed to be carefully controlled with motorized shades to meet the functional needs of the pool space.

The natatorium’s design complements the architectural vocabulary established on the Ensworth campus, and subtly articulated brick walls with limestone accents contrast with glazed aluminum curtain walls surmounted by copper eaves and roofs.