Southern Ute Tribe

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Southern Ute Tribe -- Ignacio, CO

In November, 2001, the native American Southern Ute Tribe completed its 50,000 square foot Community and Family Center which included an indoor pool and natatorium. The pool and pool equipment was designed by Brannon. At the owner's election the 4,380 square foot heated pool was designed to accommodate just about every aquatic activity you could put into an indoor pool.

It features:

A one meter diving board
Three 25-yard lap lanes
A fifty foot water walk and cargo net hand-hold
A Raindrop 'Tumblebuckets'
Two Raindrop 'Lemon Drops'
Zero depth entry
Cross pool lap lanes
A 12-person spa pool

The pool required extra care in construction as it was built into a partial basement below natural grade in the rocky terrain of Ignacio. Excavation uncovered severalflowing streams of ground water which had to be diverted around the structure. The pool shell was designed by Brannon as a reinforced concrete cast-in-place structure. A Natare (www.natare.com) 60 mil reinforced PVC liner was specified to cover the pool. The perimeter overflow system is a Natare stainless steel semi-recessed system.

Filter units are U.S. Filter 100 psi series fiberglass tanks and circulation pumps are Paco brand vertically mounted end suction pumps. Sanitizer control is a Strantrol 5F unit controlling a Pulsar IV briquette calcium hypochlorite system.

The pool was built by Texas Water Works (www.texaswaterworks.com) under subcontract to Austin Commercial (www.austin-ind.com), one of the largest builders in the U.S. Architect for the Community and Family Center was Cunningham Architects of Dallas, Texas (www.cunninghamarchitects.com). The pool subcontract alone was around $650,000. Total project exceeded $7.0 million.