Spring 2000
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44
architecture urbanism environmental issues . in the Cambridge city region
BUILDING OF THE CENTURY?
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Since its progenitor was opened in the early 60s, patterns of recreation and lifestyle have blossomed, but the muddled gestation of the new Parkside Pool and its bizarre rationale for redevelopment have been vindicated by popular acclaim. The enjoyment of the new facility is attested in the resounding recognition given to it by readers of the local blad, in the form of the David Urwin 2000 Award. Strange that a complex which is neither fish nor fowl, neither recreation pool, nor true sports facility, should receive such uncritical reception. The Sportspark pool opening shortly at the University of East Anglia, Norwich (designed by Cambridge architects RH Partnership) has a divisible 50m dedicated sports pool. The University of Bath, like UEA, a quarter of the size of the combined Cambridge universities, likewise has a brand new dedicated 50m sports pool. It must be truly amazing to anyone that does not know Cambridge, that heads were not put together with the Regional Sports Council, the National Lottery Fund, the local authorities and higher education centres, to provide shared facilities of excellence of their various sorts that clearly separated the venues of sporting and informal leisure activities, which, after all, are only related by the watery nature of their environment.