Serving Community and Competition
On the shoreline of Long Beach, a new civic landmark has risen where an aging aquatic facility once stood. The Belmont Plaza Pool and Aquatics Center reestablishes the city as a hub for aquatic competition while welcoming the broader community with a mix of recreational, therapeutic, and social amenities. Located directly on the public beach, the Center is designed not only as a high-performance venue for swimming, diving, and water polo but also as an inviting destination for residents and visitors alike.
Developed in collaboration with RoTo as design architect and Hastings+Chivetta as aquatics architect, HED shaped a facility that balances elite competition standards with inclusive community programming. Inside, two 50-meter competition pools anchor the design. Each pool incorporates advanced flexibility—one with a moveable floor and the other with a moveable bulkhead—enabling multiple configurations for training, meets, and everyday recreation.
Supporting them are teaching and therapy pools, therapeutic whirlpools, deep-water wells, diving platforms, and springboards. Together, these elements provide opportunities for every level of aquatic activity, from youth lessons to national competitions.
Spectator seating allows the Center to accommodate large events, positioning Long Beach to host regional and national meets while engaging the public in the excitement of aquatic sports. Locker rooms, restrooms, meeting rooms, concessions, and administration spaces round out the interior program, supporting smooth operations for athletes, coaches, and guests.
Outdoors, the design embraces the Southern California climate and context. A landscaped park, open plazas, and a walk-up restaurant extend the facility’s reach beyond its walls, inviting beachgoers and neighbors to linger and participate in the social life of the site. The exterior spaces are central to the idea of the Center as a civic destination, a place that integrates recreation, leisure, and competition seamlessly into the coastal setting.
The 68,000-square-foot facility is as much about community as it is about performance. Its therapeutic and teaching components make it accessible to a wide spectrum of users, while its recreational pools and open plazas create new opportunities for gathering. By layering high-level competition amenities with everyday recreational offerings, the Belmont Plaza Pool and Aquatics Center redefines what a civic aquatic facility can be: an inclusive environment that celebrates both athletic achievement and community connection.
For Long Beach, the project represents more than the replacement of a pool complex. It is the creation of an iconic civic institution—an architectural and cultural landmark that anchors the beachfront, strengthens the city’s identity as an aquatics destination, and provides residents with a place to compete, recover, learn, and connect.
