Santa Clara International Swim Center

Integral Group is providing MEP engineering and Sustainable Design Consulting services on a new campus design for the City of Santa Clara, California. The project includes a Community Center, plus the replacement of the International Swim Center, famous for training athletes that have won over 50 Olympic Gold Medals.

The project consists of three training and competition pools and a community meeting, theatre, and pool facilities totaling over 100,000 ft². The project is designed to achieve LEED Platinum and Net Zero Energy goals.

Another goal for this project is for the facility to serve as a model of Resilient Design so that it can function in a natural or other disaster to serve the community. As part of this strategy, the building architecture will be designed based on concepts of Passive Survivability to allow the facility to be habitable under extreme climate conditions with minimal need for cooling, heating, and lighting systems. Additionally, the campus will be designed as a Microgrid, which allows it to function without power from the electrical grid if there is an extended loss of power in the region.

The campus will be served by an innovative Central Energy Plant that utilizes PV-Thermal panels to create electric power and hot water from the sun. During the summer months, a unique Borehole Thermal Energy Storage system will store the solar hot water deep in the ground for use in heating the pools during the winter months. Cooling and heating will be provided throughout via radiant tubing in the concrete slabs of the buildings to yield the greatest thermal comfort at the lowest energy use.

The project will utilize reclaimed water from the local water utility for irrigation and toilet flushing during normal operation. As part of the Resilient Design concept, purification systems will allow water from the four large pools will be used as a source of clean water for the community in case the city water system is unavailable due to a disaster.