Rock Hill Aquatics Center

325 Rawlinson Road
Rock Hill, SC 29732

This large facility hosts two Olympic size swimming pools and serves as a base for many local swimming teams. Sporting a beautiful wood ceiling and plenty of natural light makes for a stunning appearance. The challenge is making it look as good for evening events as it does during the day. Additionally, overcoming safety concerns by eliminating glare on the water’s surface from the lighting system was essential.

McKnight Smith Ward Griffin Engineers solved this by placing one row of asymmetric lighting fixtures manufactured by SPI on each side of the pools. The higher wattage fixtures were used to provide indirect illumination of the wood ceiling. Approximately 1/3 of the fixtures in each row utilized a lower wattage to illuminate the walls thereby increasing the sense of brightness in the space. Cost was a dominant factor in their design so modifications were made to adapt the mounting of these fixtures to low-cost unistrut.

The management of this facility benefits from an energy efficient metal halide lighting system. In addition, their lighting system can be easily and safely maintained as none of the lighting is located over water or at extreme heights. The community of Rock Hill can be proud to have such a wonderful recreational facility.

Aquatics Center Homepage

Photo Credits: Malcolm Davis