Aquatics Facilities Missoula, Montana
Read the news about Aquatics' opening here. MMW was the principal architecture firm to design the City of Missoula Aquatics Project, including six different facilities to replace nearly all of the previously existing city pools. "Currents," in McCormick Park, is an indoor facility with a large leisure pool, water slides that land in a plunge pool, a lap pool, resistance lane, and spa. Currents also houses The Parks and Recreation department offices. Just outside the building is a small splash deck overlooking Silver's Lagoon, a historic Missoula fishing and ice skating pond. The public art piece depicting native critters and water sandblasted onto the exterior face of the pool is by local artist James Todd.
Splash Montana, the other large park, was designed with a forest fire theme, and includes a 35'-tall slide suggesting a fire tower. Three slides fall from the platform in flame colors. Bridges span the lazy and crazy river, and signage throughout suggests “forest service.” A leisure pool, concessions, tot lot, sand volleyball court, and significant deck space are other options for recreation.
Marilyn splash deck is home to prairie lands critters that offer interactive water features. A lady bug water cannon can be targeted across spraying cattails; kids run through the oversize frog to a blue heron's dumping beak. At Franklin , kids aim squirting bison heads at friends, stand under the 8' tall balsam root flowers, and run through the mountain arches reminiscent of surrounding hillsides. Water flows along a path that suggests the convergence of local river. Bonner's theme recalls a secret garden and, at Westside, kings and queens, a serpentine and checkboard concrete pattern create a “knightly” effect, tying into an adjacent Robin Hood play structure. MMW worked in conjunction with Ankeny Kell Architects on the Aquaitcs project.
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