Case Study: Pultruded Handrail Complements Aquatic Park

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1309-WaterSlideAccessTower&Railing-Detail

Originally built in 1965, the Chatfield Municipal Pool is adjacently located to the Chatfield High School in Minnesota. It was recently determined that the pool either needed to be renovated or replaced. A community decision was made in 2017 to replace the pool with a new aquatics center due to ongoing maintenance issues, new safety standards, and accessibility concerns.

Upon the completion of a feasibility study, a new $4.5 million aquatics project was unveiled to include a new diving platform, zero-depth entry, a multi-story water slide, interactive areas, more swim lanes, an expanded deck space, and an additional pool area for swimming lessons.

STRONGRAIL® fiberglass handrail and fencing was utilized in different applications within the aquatics project. The previous pool lacked space partitions for pedestrian movement. Black STRONGRAIL® fencing was used to preserve large walkways for visitors and staff members around the food and beverage area. Near the water slide, STRONGRAIL® architectural handrail was installed to limit public access around the supporting frames of the slide’s enclosed tubes.

The water slide access tower is a fabricated structure outfitted with EXTREN® pultruded fiberglass structural shapes as well. STRONGRAIL® square handrail was chosen as the railing solution throughout the tower. The fine grit flooring surface for the stairs and landing platforms utilized DURAGRID® T-1800 pultruded grating. EXTREN® 525 plate was chosen for the structure’s façade.

TECHNICAL DATA
Product: Water Slide Access Tower and Railing
Process: Pultrusion
Materials & Sizes: STRONGRAIL® Fiberglass Architectural Handrail System:

  • 2" square top rail
DURAGRID® Pultruded Grating:

  • T-1800
EXTREN® Structural Shapes & Plate:

  • channel, I-beam, wide flange, angle, and plate
Custom stair tread and riser
For: AZS Industries LLC
American Fence Company of MN
User: City of Chatfield, MN

Fiberglass was chosen due to the city’s desire for a durable, nonconductive, and low maintenance material for its aquatic park. As building materials were examined, the designer had to take into account the corrosion aspects of the application as well as the bitterly cold Chatfield winter temperatures. The thermal conductivity of FRP is 1/100th that of steel.

Due to tight project deadlines, the city needed a domestic manufacturer to work with the hired architect to design and fabricate the water slide tower.

In total, three contractors worked through the harsh Minnesota winter to install and complete the project for the Summer 2019 opening.

Since its opening, the operators of the pool have been complimentary of the custom color and performance of Strongwell’s products, assembly fitting, time tables, installation, and theming of its products with the rest of the facility.

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