East Hants Aquatic Centre

The East Hants Aquatic Centre is located in the portion of central mainland Nova Scotia known as “The Corridor” — an area comprising a halfdozen towns with 22,500 people spread across nearly 700 square miles, which has experienced significant residential growth over the past two decades. Community leaders envisioned a new facility that would meet current and future programming needs. Additionally, they wanted a facility that would be efficient to operate and manage — requiring minimal energy for heating, cooling and lighting, and laid out in a way that would make it easy to monitor without the need for redundant staffing. 

The eastern portion features an aquatics hall with a six-lane, 25-meter lap pool; a one-meter diving board and waterslide; and a leisure pool with ramp access, a lazy river and a hot pool for up to 20 people — all supported by women’s, men’s and family/universal change rooms, as well as reception, administration and lifeguard areas. Along the western elevation facing a stand of trees, pedestrian walks and a splash pad are the staff and building support spaces, a 50-person-capacity multipurpose room with storage and a kitchenette, a public lobby and viewing area, and the pool and building mechanical rooms. A chlorine fill station is housed in an external shed a short distance south of the main structure, connected to the filtration room via underground pipes. 

The structure itself is simple and economical to minimize the complexity of construction: a rectangular footprint topped by a highly visible standing-seam metal roof that rises gently from the entry on the west to the elevated ceiling atop the aquatics hall to the east. Ample glazing to the north, east and south ensure the aquatics hall receives abundant daylight.

ARCHITECT OF RECORD

TEAL Architects

Upper Tantallon, N.S.

DESIGN ARCHITECT

MJMA Architecture & Design

Toronto, Ont.

PROJECT VENDORS