Avoiding common mistakes
published in sb magazine 3/2022
After 40 years specialising on sports design, the author is weary of clients and architects continuing to make the same mistakes and waste scarce resources on badly planned and poorly designed sports and leisure facilities. Gar Holohan is the founder and chairman of the Aura Holohan Group who operate several public aquatic centres and a chain of private fitness gyms in Ireland. He shares his ideas on how to avoid common mistakes when planning swimming pool and sports facilities.
[...] The remarkable thing is that many of the basic design-generated problems that were pointed out to me 20 years ago are still being repeated today! Why is this?
One reason is the “copycat” approach of project teams who want to replicate successful facilities without realising that the facilities they have visited were based on thinking and trends 10+ years ago. A key question that must be asked is what current trends should we consider for the future?
Photo: Gar Holohan
