Brown University

Routine renovations at Brown University’s Smith Swim Center in 2006 revealed that 35 years of high humidity had rotted the building’s roof beams beyond repair. The Center was promptly closed, leaving Brown’s aquatic student-athletes to practice in an off-campus location 35 minutes away. After a four-month feasibility study, the university elected to replace Smith Swim Center with a new $35 million aquatic facility.

To provide training space for Brown’s aquatic athletes until completion of the new facility, a one-story, inflated structure containing a relocatable 25-meter-by-25-yard training pool and diving well was erected in a former parking lot in the athletic complex. Connected to Olney-Margolies Athletic Center by a covered walkway, the pool provides the interim practice space necessary to keep Brown’s student-athletes on campus, maximizing their available study time. Delivered via design-build with Shawmut Design and Construction.