DHM
O U R AY H OT S P R I N G S Ouray, CO
THE OURAY HOT SPRINGS Ouray, Colorado
PROJECT SUMMARY Situated in the San Juan Mountains of Southwest Colorado and referred to as the “Switzerland of America,” Ouray, Colorado is a true gem of the Rocky Mountain Region. Their beloved hot springs facility serves the community of a thousand people as a recreation center as well as a tourist destination that contributes greatly to the local economy. This project, to reimagine the facility, responds to the community’s desire to upgrade the visitor experience without sacrificing the history and character of the original pool. Above all, the goal was to serve citizens and visitors through an inclusive and inviting design. The team designed the pools using the natural geothermal energy available and increased overall swimmer capacity of the pools. The hot soaking areas accommodate five times more people than before. Through collaboration, creative solutions and a comprehensive public process, the team rejuvenated this treasured amenity so it could return the favor for generations to come.
PROJECT TEAM DHM Design Anderson Hallas Architects Cloward H2O DOWL Russell Planning 360 Engineering AE Design Goff Engineering
EXISTING CONDITIONS The Ouray Hot Springs Pool was originally built in the 1920’s as a summer facility. In the 1980’s, modifications were made to the pool that allowed the facility to be open year-round. Over the years, the patchwork of additions and remodels left gaps in the City’s ability to maintain and operate a facility that meets the expectations and needs of visitors. The overall facility includes an outside pool, two-story bath house and filtration / pump facilities to supply geothermal mineral water. The concept was to create a facility with increased capacity that celebrates its mountain surroundings, while also respecting and paying tribute to the historic oval form of the pool.
The original facility had a singular pool that was difficult to heat in winter, had outlived accessibility standards and did not accommodate the growing needs of visitors and residents.
CIVIC COLLABORATION Similar to developing a community park, the team had to respect and respond to the desires of a tightknit community who felt a high degree of ownership over the facility. The public was not interested in creating a high end resort-level experience that could potentially price people out of the pool. DHM Design worked with the client and community to understand and accommodate all the different ways people use their hot springs through a robust public process. The community insights offered a valuable window into the user experience developed over a lifetime of visitation that led to meaningful design solutions in form and function.
DHM created character sketches based on input from the community on how they wanted the pools to feel.
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DHM Design prepared several 3D renderings as a tool to help understand the design during construction and to envision the addition of a future splash pad.
Workers create custom forms for the hot pool’s curvilinear walls. Construction was started in October of 2016, so the majority of the pools were built in the winter. Frames for tents had to be built and rebuilt to protect the concrete and to allow shotcrete to be completed in winter conditions.
VISITOR EXPERIENCE Reconfiguring the original oval into separate pools allowed the design to maintain the overall historic shape, while improving year-round function and maintenance. The five pools are now organized to create grouped activity zones for louder/active areas as well as for quiet soaking areas. Local boulders showcase the regional geology and concrete paving flows into lawn areas for sunbathers and picnickers. Increased lawn and deck space create more spacious and scenic lounging / gathering areas around the pools; informal pool shapes create more edge and deck space for better circulation and organization of activities. Even though the pools accommodate more people, the space is carefully articulated to make visitors feel less crowded or exposed.
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Respecting the community’s 4 desire to enhance the ‘natural hot springs’ aesthetic, amenities were designed to complement the character and geology of the area. The noise of flowing water from the waterfall focuses the senses away from the nearby highway.
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Informal pool shapes create more edge, seating and deck space for better circulation, experience and organization of activities. The space is carefully articulated to create more intimate spaces for families and small groups
MOUNTAIN SETTING The new layout of the pool offers 360-degree views of the mountains, with special focus on Mount Abrams to the south. By developing additional edge space in the pool, through longer, curvilinear shapes, more people can now sit along the edge with a view toward Ouray’s most distinguished peak. The climbing wall was a community-driven element, as rock and ice climbers flock to Ouray from around the world. Citizens brought personal photos to meetings to inform the wall’s ultimate character that reflects and highlights the unique Ouray climbing appeal. Other new features include a regulation lap pool, LED water lights to replace the bright over-hanging lights, shade sails, and new water slides that were designed to sit better within the overall natural surroundings.
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The climbing wall was intended to represent the surrounding cliffs that draw ice and rock climbers from near and far. Great care was taken to blend into the geologic formations in the background.
ACCESSIBLE RECREATION While many hot springs around the country are private, the Ouray Hot Springs Pool is owned and operated by the City of Ouray and needed to meet the stricter accessibility, community process and safety guidelines of a public infrastructure project. The pool serves not just the citizens of Ouray and its visitors, but also the surrounding communities, who use it to augment their own municipal recreational programming. The design focused on improved accessibility to the pools in the form of lifts, transfer walls, and sloped entries. A key safety feature of the pool design is that the ramp and shallow pool area are located directly adjacent to the bathhouse. As a result, the visitors (especially excited kids) who enter the outdoor pool areas from the building will have easy access to shallow water as they orient themselves to all the different types of pools available. The layout improves the accessibility between the pools, making it easier for parents and lifeguards to observe and enter.
The design includes lifts, transfer walls, and sloped entries to encourage visitors of all ages and abilities.
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SUSTAINABILITY The greatest asset of the facility is the availability of quality hot water from natural geothermal resources. The geothermal resources were engineered to heat 27,000 surface square feet of pools. Heat exchangers are used to pull residual heat out of the water after it passes through the hot pools and is then used to heat the lap lanes and the activity pool. Any excess geothermal heat from the overflow water will be used to supply snowmelt for sidewalks in the future. The team utilized the existing pool shells as much as economically and physically possible to limit the amount of material hauled off site. Selective demolition decisions were made to change the depth of pools – a technically difficult task on such an old structure. With the new multi-pool design, the City can now close certain pools in the winter to preserve the geothermal heat; they will also be able to perform maintenance on one pool at a time without shutting down the whole facility.
Wallace Stevens once wrote, “Human nature is like water. It takes the shape of its container.� Visitors come to Ouray from all over the world for the health benefits of the hot, mineral waters. As the heart of the community, the renewed facility will provide a more inclusive, accessible, family friendly, relaxing and exciting way to experience the pools and amazing scenery for years to come.
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