Round Rock ISD Aquatic Facility

Round Rock ISD’s new natatorium combines efficiency and flexibility to serve three high school swim teams and host UIL-sanctioned meets, while also supporting diving, water polo, lifeguard training, youth swim programs, fitness, and recreation. The pool enclosures are passively ventilated and designed around a custom modular structure to accommodate daylighting, radiant heating, and natural ventilation, with energy efficiency enhanced by a combined heat and power generator. Conditioned support and amenity spaces include locker rooms, coaching offices, concessions, and public restrooms. The site provides 200 parking spaces and doubles as the front greenspace for an adjacent performing arts center. Extensive fluid dynamic studies informed the passive ventilation strategy, with operable garage doors enabling airflow and shade. Requiring only minimal winter heating, the natatorium is also PV-ready, with infrastructure for future solar installation.

“This place glows during the day, and yet it’s still protected from the relatively challenging sunlight of the area. At night, it becomes a beacon in the community. So this is a 24-hour project in the sense that you’re always aware of it. I appreciated the way you could open this pool area to the natural landscapes when the challenging climate allows it. This building breathes, which I think is so important in architecture.”

—Tom Kundig, FAIA