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Sunderland Aquatic Centre

Redbox Architecture, Sunderland, 2008

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Despite the building's curved form, much of its cladding is flat sheets of aluminium

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50-metre swimming pool wrapped in a long, flattened, aluminium-clad tube, tucked in against the north side of the Sunderland football stadium

The tube-shaped pool hall is clad in Kalzip standing-seam aluminium. At the west end is a two-storey Schüco glass box, which serves as entrance foyer to the two pools and the attached Wellness Centre, which has Sto-clad walls curving in an amorphous shape. The building is separated from the football stadium by a wide access road.

Inside, the plan is quite simple. A two-level plant room, diving pool and towers precede the main 51.5m x 25m, 10-lane swimming pool, which has seating either side for 500 spectators.

Next is the changing-room block, with a big function room and some offices on the level above, followed by the separate foyer and Wellness Centre blocks at the east end of the main structure. Both pools have adjustable floors and the main pool can be divided by a laterally movable, 1.5m-wide boom, which is also used to ensure that athletes swim precisely 50m lengths.

The superstructure is supported by 15 vast curving glulam beams on each side of the main building, with each pair spanning 50m. The beams are pin-jointed at their bases on canted floor-height concrete buttresses, and connected at the top.