Renovated Sheerr Pool makes a splash at Pottruck Center
New features, improvements, and enhancements have enriched the user experience and made the pool safer and more accessible.
3 min. read
This summer saw the reopening of Sheerr Pool at the Pottruck Center after a yearlong renovation, the pool’s first since its opening in 1967.
New features, improvements, and enhancements have enriched the user experience and made Sheerr Pool safer and more modern and accessible.
One of the biggest changes is the addition of a full glass entry wall and door that allows visitors to see the pool as soon as they walk in the Pottruck Center.
The pool lighting has been upgraded as well, coating the space evenly with bright light.
“That’s one of the things most people mention when they walk in, especially if they had known the previous pool,” says Jim Palka, senior project manager of design and construction at Penn Facilities and Real Estate Services. “Everyone seems to respond to that immediately.”
Palka says they were able to improve the lighting by moving the lights outside of the footprint of the pool, over the decks, shining up toward the ceiling. The new LED lights are more serviceable and energy efficient than the previous pool lights and can also be adjusted or dimmed when the pool is not in use.
Other changes include new seating, a new ADA-compliant viewing platform, new ADA-compliant pool entry stairs, an upgraded filtration and ventilation system, a new gutter system with zero depth entry, and new diving boards and starting blocks.
In the previous pool, the water and gutter were 11 inches below the pool deck. Palka says chlorine fumes would accumulate on the water’s surface in the old gutter system. The new gutter system and zero-depth entry pool bring the water level flush with the deck, allowing chlorine fumes to dissipate more easily.
“The new pool design allows the chlorine fumes to escape from the surface of the water,” he says. “Everything is free-flowing.”
Colin Wells, associate director of facility operations at Penn Campus Recreation, says the new gutter system will make the pool safer.
“It makes it easier for lifeguards to potentially do saves,” he says. “If they have to backboard someone, they’ll no longer be contending with that 11-inch drop-off to get someone in and out of the pool.”
Noah Gustkey, associate athletic director/senior director of facilities at Penn Athletics, says, “with few pools in the city capable of supporting additional programming, one of the main challenges during Sheerr Pool’s construction was finding alternative facilities to accommodate our varsity teams, club teams, and recreational swimmers.”
Wells says pool programming, including swim lessons, will resume in the fall semester.
Understanding order to disorder at the atomic scale opens possibilities for next-generation electronic devices
A Penn team has developed insight into the chemical and geometric mechanisms underlying the synthesis of new 2D materials, paving the way for next-gen devices, biomedical applications, and cleaner, quicker energy conversion and storage.
Exposure to air pollution worsens Alzheimer’s disease
New research from Penn Medicine finds living in areas with high concentration of air pollution is associated with increased buildup of amyloid and tau proteins in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, accelerating cognitive decline.
Penn buildings achieve LEED certifications, showcasing commitment to sustainability
Three recent building projects at the University of Pennsylvania have earned LEED Platinum, Gold, and Silver certifications, underscoring Penn’s ongoing commitment to sustainable design and construction.
What stiffening lung tissue reveals about the earliest stages of fibrosis
A Penn Engineering team has targeted the lung’s extracellular matrix to better understand early fibrosis by triggering the formation of special chemical bonds that increase tissue stiffness in specific locations, mimicking the first physical changes that may lead to lung fibrosis.
