Compound Interest of Experience

It's swim meet day at the local Aquatics Centre.

The oldest daughter drives herself to compete. Mom arrives with two younger siblings. One has parent-tot lessons, the other wants the waterslides. Grandma signs up for Aquafit. Grandpa wants to watch the swim meet from the hot tub. Dad needs to finish some work while watching from the pool deck.

One family. Six different experiences.

This is the kind of family we've been designing for at the new $72 million Fort Saskatchewan Aquatics Centre.

A centrally located hot tub overlooks the action. A ramp makes the leisure pool accessible for Aquafit. A warm, shallow pool welcomes the youngest swimmers. Waterslides and a lazy river give the older kids somewhere to play.

Each design decision is made once, but experienced thousands of times.

Think of compound interest. An investment made today can keep paying dividends for decades.

A building works much the same way.

A child learns to swim. Returns with friends. Eventually brings their own children. And one day, grandma watches from the hot tub.

The building was designed once. The experiences it creates can pay dividends for generations.