Riseman Aquatic Center, Tampa, Florida
Set on a bend of the Hillsborough River with the downtown skyline in view, The University of Tampa occupies one of Florida’s most distinctive campuses, a compact riverside setting where the silver minarets of Plant Hall rise above the palms. In October 2020, a gift from alumnus Benson Alex Riseman '78, alongside a $20 million bond, funded Phase II of its fitness and recreation centre. At its heart is the 32,000-square-foot Benson Alex Riseman Aquatic Center, an open-air facility set between residence halls, the Sykes Chapel plaza and the 105-foot Ars Sonora bell sculpture. Since opening in March 2022, it has been home to the Spartan men’s and women’s NCAA swimming teams and a daily gathering place for the wider student body.
- Project type
- Institutional
- Products used
- Location
- Florida, United States
- Year
- 2022
- Architects
- KWJ Architects
Three pools, one continuous edge
The aquatic centre brings three bodies of water together on a single deck: a 6,346-square-foot competition pool of 11 lanes at 25 yards, a 1,244-square-foot leisure pool, and a 344-square-foot whirlpool spa. The competition and leisure pools are deck-level overflow pools, where water spills across the coping into a perimeter channel and returns to the plant room, keeping the surface calm enough for competition and the deck clear enough for everyday use.
That places a continuous line of grating around both pools, precisely where swimmers and students cross barefoot. Close to 500 feet was made for the project, running behind the starting blocks, past the ADA lift positions and around both turn ends. It is the most walked-upon element in the facility, and one of the quietest.
Drainage that reads as part of the deck
The deck is finished in a warm, pale travertine-toned paving, chosen to stay comfortable and glare-free under Florida sun. Jonite’s grates were made to match it in tone and texture, so the drainage line reads as part of the deck rather than a product laid into it.
That match has to survive close inspection, because at a pool deck everyone is barefoot and looking down. The grates are produced from a minimum of 95% natural aggregates, not pigmented plastic, so the colour and texture are the material itself rather than a surface applied to it. They hold their tone through years of chlorinated water and Florida sun, and stay slip-resistant underfoot. From the pool house viewing deck, the drainage appears only as a fine border tracing the geometry of the water.
Made to suit the channel
A competition pool moves a great deal of water at once. Eleven swimmers leaving the blocks together send a surge across the coping that the perimeter channel has to take in a single moment.
The units here seat perpendicular to an inclined channel, holding a flush, stable line along its full length and taking water cleanly without widening a single slot, so the openings stay narrow enough for barefoot traffic. No catalogue product seats this way.
The leisure pool added a second problem. Its western end sweeps into a broad radius, and the line had to follow it without breaking into short chords. Jonite grates can be made to any radius, with purpose-made corner sets resolving the returns on both pools.
A custom handhold at the waterline
Every grate was supplied with a custom handhold trimmer, the continuous grip along the pool edge where swimmers reach for the wall. It is among the most touched surfaces in any competition pool, and among the most exposed, sitting at the waterline in constant contact with chlorinated water.
No standard component would have suited this edge. The trimmers were cast for these pools alone, in the same stone as the grating and the same tone, so coping, channel and grip read as one material. The composite does not corrode, and it stays secure under a wet hand.
Specified for the life of the building
The Riseman Center is the University of Tampa’s seventh LEED-certified building, designed throughout for energy conservation and efficiency. Jonite’s material was chosen on terms that support that: a minimum of 30% recycled content, a minimum of 95% natural aggregates, and Singapore Green Building Product certification at Leader level.
Four years on, the deck still reads as one continuous surface, drainage and handhold in the same material throughout.
Discover custom solutions
Nothing about this deck came off a shelf. Close to 500 feet of grating was drawn for these pools alone, matched in colour and texture to the paving, seated to an inclined channel as built, cut to the leisure pool’s radius, and supplied with a handhold trimmer cast for every piece.
Curves, sizes, open area, colours, textures and load ratings are all things we develop to a drawing rather than pick from a range. If your detail calls for something that does not exist yet, that is where we start.
