The first time water polo coach Adam Krikorian heard of the possibility for a new aquatic center, his older brother Blake was a freshman on the water polo team in 1985.
More than two decades later, the landscape of Sunset Canyon has finally begun to feel the early effects of the new facility’s presence on the Hill.
On June 30, ground was officially broken and the development of the Spieker Aquatic Center began.
The idea for the new aquatic center was primarily born of the desire to give UCLA’s water sports teams a state-of-the-art facility that reflects the caliber that these programs have demonstrated on a consistent basis.
“Over the years, we’ve said, “˜Let’s give them something they can call their home,'” Ken Weiner, Senior Associate Athletic Director and the leading businessman in charge of the project, said.
Originally, when the site for the facility was being decided 10 to 12 years ago, the plan was to augment the existing pool at the Student Activities Center.
That proposal was quickly abandoned, however, when it became apparent that the site’s landscape was restrictive.
“We could never get a long course pool (at SAC) because of the architecture of the building,” Weiner said. “Due to the site constraints, the most we could get was a 30-meter pool.”
Over the next two years, collaborations with UCLA Recreation took place in hopes of determining the location for the new center.
“We were very patient working with Recreation to find a space that may work,” Weiner said. “It took two years to do recreational surveys to look at the opportunities at the Sunset Canyon Recreation Center, and we jointly agreed to convert the top four tennis courts into a site.”
With Sunset Canyon established as the site, the design segment of the process began to take shape.
Representatives from the athletic department, UCLA Recreation and the water polo, swimming and diving teams came together with the aim of accommodating each party that the project would affect.
This collaboration was especially vital during programming, the first phase of the architectural process, and played a significant role in the approach the architects took with the project.
Bauer and Wiley, an architecture firm based in Newport Beach, was hired in 2006 for the job of building UCLA’s newest innovative enterprise.
Brian Pratt, a Bauer and Wiley architect, said that being aware of the needs of those involved with the project played an integral role in their approach to designing the facility.
“First, we really focus on the program, what does the facility need to do, how does it need to function,” Pratt said. “We studied different schemes and chose the best one to match up with needs of the programs. Then we developed the aesthetic.”
The challenges confronting the design team in developing the aesthetic for the center arose in the attempt to establish an equilibrium between the already existing atmosphere of Sunset Canyon and UCLA’s central campus.
“Aesthetically, it really isn’t like anything else on campus,” Pratt said of Sunset Canyon. “We wanted to find a way to keep it simple, fitting up there in a way to hopefully unify Sunset Canyon with the rest of the campus without ruining that great atmosphere up there. It’s a special place.”
After the calculation of cost estimates it was determined that the project would cost $13 million to build ““ approximately $2 million over budget.
At this point, the scheme was refined to meet the budget. Despite the changes, the concept of the facility was not sacrificed.
“(Refinement is) par for the course,” Pratt said. “The question is, how do we still achieve the concept while making sure we meet the budget, which we did.”
Presently the project is in what Weiner describes as “phase one,” a scaled-down version of the originally proposed plan.
“We came up with a design that would have been great, a real nice project that turned out to be too costly,” Weiner said of the initial proposal.
“We pared it back so that we can add all the bells and whistles, (such as) the lounges, the study rooms, all that kind of stuff later on. But the first phase is really to put down the fundamentals of the aquatic stadium.”
The fundamentals include the 52-meter pool, dividing bulkhead, diving platform, springboards, men and women’s locker rooms, a lifeguard operations room, permanent seating for 500 spectators, a hot spa for diving, a champion’s board and an LED scoreboard.
The Spieker Aquatic Center is privately funded, with a budget of $11 million. So far about $8 million has been pledged, thanks to three major benefactors.
Tod Spieker and his wife Catherine are the lead donors for the project. Spieker swam for the Bruins from 1968 to 1971.
A second leading gift was donated by the Joseph B. Gould Foundation for the construction and naming of the pool. James Easton, for whom UCLA’s softball stadium is named, also pledged a third gift for the naming of the street to the center.
There are still plenty of naming opportunities available, such as lanes, seating sections and locker rooms. At this point in the project, getting the rest of the funding will be a challenge.
“There’s a name for everyone if they have a wherewithal,” Weiner said. “We’ve gotten to a point, it’s a slog to get the rest of it.”
Weiner said there are also opportunities for past and present student athletes to take an active role in the funding of the project, such as purchasing lockers.
As far as the donors’ involvement in the project goes, Weiner said they will be kept to up-to-date with its progress through a 52-week series of site pictures.
“This is the kind of thing we think is important to provide to the donors, saying you’re going to get a sneak preview of what’s going on for your dollars.
“This has been a fairly good group for us, I’ve been involved with projects where they want to tell you what kind of carpeting to put in, what wall colors and things, and this is a group that has been fairly hands-off. (However,) I think it’s fair to say if someone gives multimillion dollars, they ought to be in the know.”
While there has been some stir around campus about the usage of the facility for students and the greater UCLA community, Weiner said there is no reason to fret.
Not only is additional water being added to campus, but the scheduling issues that currently exist between recreational swimmers and aquatic sports will dissipate with the new competition center.
“The upshot for the community is that there will be more access than there ever has been,” Weiner said. “Disruptions from a recreational perspective won’t be there in the future. I think it’s a win-win for everyone in terms of aquatic space, recreationally and competition-wise.”
In addition to the question of access to recreational water, the users of the tennis courts have also voiced concern about the impact of the project.
Weiner said that after investigating the situation, the reality of the matter was that people who were using the courts did not have permission to do so.
“What was perceived as a lot of tennis court use was unauthorized use,” Weiner said. “I think Recreation does a great job of monitoring and maintaining those courts, and (the opposition) has sort of died down.”
To ease concerns about court availability, upgrades at the Sycamore courts, including new restrooms, are currently in motion. The Los Angeles Tennis Center’s night hours will also be extended for those who want to play under the lights.
While the two sets of basketball courts located at Sunset Canyon will be converted to tennis courts, UCLA Housing is currently working on building new basketball courts near the Saxon dorms on the Hill to compensate for the loss.
With so much going on behind the scenes, the visible manifestation of the project has yet to elicit any sort of reaction from the community.
“This is kind of a quiet phase for construction because they’re doing things that aren’t very tangible,” Weiner said. “You won’t see a lot going on, but there is.”
Completion of the Spieker Aquatic Center is scheduled for fall of 2009.