Overview

Sport

Client
City of Victor Harbor
Alexandrina Council

Collaborators
Hames Sharley

Disciplines
Landscape Architecture

Location
Hayborough, SA

Date
2015

Imagery
Robyn Oliver

Fleurieu regional aquatic centre
The Fleurieu Aquatic Centre draws inspiration from the local Indigenous story of Kondili the whale, with the building and landscape designed to reflect the story’s cultural significance while blending with the natural coastal environment.

The result is a cohesive architectural and landscape design that maximises play opportunities for children, with both structured and natural play areas.

Fleurieu regional aquatic centre
Fleurieu regional aquatic centre
Fleurieu regional aquatic centre

The team decided to blur the boundaries between the internal splash play and children’s pool and the external landscape by incorporating a large ‘splat’ motif. This motif makes a continuous edge to the play areas and turns into a small rock-lined creek.

Fleurieu regional aquatic centre
Fleurieu regional aquatic centre
Fleurieu regional aquatic centre

The play space extends the development’s environmental theme, featuring a small rocky creek that fills with roof runoff when it rains, and can also be filled using hand-pumped water spouts and troughs during dry spells.

Fleurieu regional aquatic centre
Fleurieu regional aquatic centre
Fleurieu regional aquatic centre
Fleurieu regional aquatic centre
Fleurieu regional aquatic centre
Fleurieu regional aquatic centre
Fleurieu regional aquatic centre

The play space uses topography and level changes to offer diverse experiences in a small area. Picnic shelters and grassy mounds provide spaces for adults and older children to relax and spend a day at the centre.

The playground includes logs, decks and various surface textures, along with traditional play equipment, chosen to suit a wide range of ages.

Fleurieu regional aquatic centre

In the public reserve east of the pool building, a large creek flows through the landscape. The creek features carefully arranged boulders to enable exploration, and varied rock sizes provide different levels of surface stability for a challenging adventure.

Fleurieu regional aquatic centre
Fleurieu regional aquatic centre

By integrating these outdoor spaces, Fleurieu Regional Aquatic Centre becomes a place of discovery that celebrates the region’s unique natural and cultural landscape.

Fleurieu regional aquatic centre
Fleurieu regional aquatic centre