Water Wonders

I’ve seen two articles recently that I must share – one inspiring, the other amazing.

First the inspiration:

It’s tough for aquatic facilities to be recognized at all when it comes to the rigorous requirements of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program: These projects can be substantial energy users and unquenchable with respect to water consumption. But through the years, creative designers have found ways for them to make the grade.

I even know of two (there may be more?) that have been certified as LEED Platinum, which is an astonishing achievement. LEED Gold aquatic centers are a rarity, too, and one that was recently recognized with that status is surprising because of the extent of the complex, which not only includes three full-size pools, but also a spa, drinking fountains, steam and sauna rooms and 34 showers. On the surface, it seems an unlikely candidate for LEED recognition.

The facility is located on the campus of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and was designed by MJMA (Toronto) along with Acton Ostry Architects (Vancouver). To meet LEED water-efficiency levels, the site includes a water-management system based on recycling and an underground cistern that can store 350,000 gallons of rainwater at a time. (In the course of a year, about 700,000 gallons enter the system for subsequent use.)

As reported by Architect magazine, “The 85,000-square-foot UBC Aquatic Center is more than just a recreational facility for UBC staff and students. Envisioned as a community resource, the swimming center was also created to provide a high-performance training and competition venue for Olympians and includes separated sections for Community Aquatics and Competition Aquatics.”

The facility is covered by an angular roof that lends the structure a flash of visual drama while helping channel rainwater into the cistern. And there’s more: A long skylight crosses the building to bring in natural light, and there’s an air-flow system that whisks away chloramine-contaminated air from the top of the water surface, replacing it with fresh air.

It’s all quite involved, but this kind of program and its attention to key details may be the only way to keep big aquatic facilities relevant in years to come. Simply inspiring.

To see photographs of the facility and the brief article, click here.

Now for the amazing:

As the article at Mother Nature Network (mnn.com) puts it, “Water might be the weirdest liquid in the universe, and now we know why: H₂O might seem simple, but how it arranges itself is bizarre.”

Let’s start with water’s unusual density: Most liquids become denser as they cool down, but once water’s temperature drops below 39.2 degrees F, researchers report, “it defies this general rule and instead becomes less dense. By the time it freezes solid, the resultant ice actually floats on liquid water. . . . That’s not all. Water also has an unusually high boiling point, and an absurdly high surface tension.”

Why is water so odd? Nobody knew until just recently, when researchers used a supercomputer to model how water molecules are organized. “It turns out that at room temperature and as ice, water has a tetrahedral arrangement of molecules, which is essentially a pyramid shape, and it’s this shape that apparently gives water such amazing abilities. To test this, researchers were able to run computer models that arranged water molecules in other shapes besides the pyramid. What they found was that as soon as the tetrahedral arrangement was broken down, water began behaving more like a normal liquid.”

Vive la difference!

To see a brief summary of these findings, which were originally published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, click here.