By Zayvian Camacho
In July 2023, Atlantic City became home to one of the largest, beachfront, indoor waterparks in the world. Known as The Island Waterpark at the Showboat Resort, the 11,148 m2 (120,000 sf) oasis includes 11 waterslides, six bars, and a 1,921 m2 (6,500 ft) lazy river—altogether holding more than 1 million L (317,000 gal) of water. At the entrance of the waterpark, Rico Rock designed and built the cast concrete rock water feature that welcomes visitors.
It all started back in January of 2022, when Rico Rock was exhibiting at the NESPA Pool and Spa Show and found themselves in meetings with project managers of this new development.
“We aren’t normally the builders on this type of project, but in this case, we ended up being very involved as a sort of joint venture [JV] with American Pond company in New Jersey, who has been a Rico rock dealer for more than 20 years,” says Bruce Riley, owner of Rico Rock. The Rico Rock builders ended up taking the lead on the project because of the job’s complexity.
American Pond had crews available just a short 1.5 hours from the jobsite, making it easier for them to be the primary contact and primary project manager. They used their local connections, especially to unions, which made working with the general contractors and subcontractors smoother and easier.
Off-site construction
The biggest decision for Rico Rock was to make the steel frames in Texas at their facility and ship them to the job site. This also ended up being the only way to keep the project within budget.
Previously, to reduce the budget from more than half the original estimates, the project was scaled down. The overall heights went from 9 to 6 m (32 to 20 ft), but the overall “mass” of the project stayed about the same. The number of water features were cut in half and the waterfalls on the backside were cut out entirely. It became apparent the central focus was on a dramatic waterfall as guests entered the facility.
The team listened to what the contractor wanted to achieve and made suggestions based on their ideas, while keeping the timing and budget in mind as well. After going over logistics, they determined it would be best to build the water feature offsite at the Rico Rock facility in Texas, which resulted in considerable savings for the project, both in time and labour.
The entrance water feature
The water feature at the entrance of the water park is 12 m (40 ft) wide x 6 m (20 ft) deep and 5 m (19 ft) high. The design features sheets of broken water that cascade over the cast concrete artificial rock, creating a dramatic effect as these features are stylized into three parts flowing from separate sections of the waterfall. The overall design is more stylized than naturalistic, and sheer waterfalls would not be nearly as appealing as the approach that was taken here with the rock water features.
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