First-in-U.S. Pool Built In 10 Days, Demolished

When the World Swimming Championships were held in Indianapolis in October, they took place inside Conseco Fieldhouse, a basketball facility.

But in 10 days, a team of engineers, general contractors and designers worked around the clock to build a temporary swimming pool ready for competition.

That meant building the pool and decking but also filling it with 475,000 gallons of heated and filtered water and making sure it meets all the requirements in the 400-page rulebook.

It's the first time the World Championships have been in North America and reportedly the first time the temporary pool technology has been compressed into such a short time. The previous record for building a temporary pool was reportedly five weeks.

Once the Championships were completed on Oct. 11, there were five days to dismantle it.

An Italian company, Myrtha, is supplied most of the pieces to the 25-meter pool and warm up pools. It will consist of more than 182 stainless steel panels, 15,000 sq. ft. of vinyl and more than 600 meters of piping for the filtration system.

Myrtha was contracted to work with the Conseco staff and Indianapolis-based construction, design and engineering firms, including BSA LifeStructures, Shiel Sexton Co., Browning Day Mullins Dierforf, HNTB Corp. and Elrod Corp.

Purdue Park Earns National Award

Purdue University's Purdue Research Park was named the country's 2004 outstanding park.

Though the park was established in the early 1960s, it achieved its most significant growth following the creation of a business incubation program in 1993. More than 40 companies are developing in the park's high-technology business incubation complex.

Currently, 50 acres of the 550-acre park are under development, said Jeanine Phipps, a media relations coordinator with the research park. In addition, the Purdue Technology Center, the flagship incubator, has a 45,000-sq.-ft. expansion under way.