The sea in a swimming pool

The Nino Bellini sports village in the northern Italian town of Crema includes the sports and recreational facilities of the Swimming Centre, which in recent years has seen frequent maintenance and a significant expansion of its available facilities.
The most significant work concerns the open-air parts of the Swimming Centre, particularly designed for members of the public who are interested not so much in sports participation as in recreational activities, and envisage the swimming pool as a source of fun and entertainment. To cater specifically for these users, a large swimming pool with an artificial wave machine was built. Opened in May 2009, it immediately became a major attraction during the summer months.
The fan-shaped swimming pool extends over an area of more than a thousand square metres and has an initial zone with deeper water (up to a depth of 1.80 metres) where 70-80 centimetre high waves are formed and a gently sloping final zone that widens out to enable the waves to gradually disperse and to create a large relaxation area for children and adults. To allow for integration with the surrounding space, a beach extending over an area of around 5,000 square metres was created, complete with sand, parasols and sun loungers.
To allow users to enjoy themselves in complete safety, great attention was devoted to the choice of cladding elements for the edge of the pool and the paving of the surrounding areas. Architect Giampaolo Arnetti, commissioned by the swimming centre management company Scs Servizi Locali, chose Trekking line tiles from NovaBell as the most suitable products for his requirements.
With their non-slip surface and outstanding resistance to wear, extreme temperatures and adverse climatic conditions, the tiles are part of the NovaBell Ecosystem collection and are covered by LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification issued by Istituto Bureau Veritas. They are produced using a minimum of 40% recycled materials by weight.
The desire to create a space that would be as natural as possible also guided the architect in his choice of sand colour tones to enable the paved surface to integrate perfectly with the area devoted to the real sandy beach.
Attention to the environment in the Swimming Centre renovation and extension work also extended to technological aspects. Special care was devoted to the choice of the utilities, which use technologies capable of minimising consumption and management costs while at the same time maximising recovery and energy savings.
The roof of the Centre is fitted with a photovoltaic system consisting of 168 panels capable of generating a power of around 20 kW.