Interactive
Splash pads, lazy rivers and waterslides, designed, built and maintained
One of the few firms in the country that designs, builds and maintains splash pads, lazy rivers, water rides and waterslides.
Water that people play in, not just look at
Interactive water is a different brief from a swimming pool. A community wants a splash pad that a few dozen children can run through at once. A developer wants a lazy river that becomes the reason families choose the neighborhood. A ranch family in the Hill Country wants a waterslide that is thrilling for the kids and still looks like it belongs on the land. Aqua Builders designs, builds and maintains large scale water parks and family fun environments, including splash pads, multi-level play structures, water rides and waterslides, as well as interactive water features and toys.
These projects fail in ways a quiet pool never does. A slide is set without enough run-out at the bottom. A play structure is drawn without thinking about where its water drains and how it is cleaned. Pumps and plumbing are sized for the opening day crowd and then asked to hold up under the summer afternoon crowd. Features that looked charming in a rendering then become maintenance calls. The remedy is to engineer the water, the structure and the service access together.
Aerial view of a circular pool with a centre rock fountain ringed by loungers and umbrellas
Designed as a system, then built by the same hands
The same design process used on residential and hotel work carries over: 2D and 3D perspective work, Revit modeling with BIM coordination and clash detection, and master planning that pulls in site work, civil, structural, MPE and architectural elements. A play structure, a slide tower and a lazy river channel are all structures first, so the CAD set includes pool sections that show shell thickness and rebar position, a piping plan, an equipment room layout and a piping isometric with GPM by pump speed.
Construction runs through site work and excavation, architectural and structural concrete, hydronic supply and mechanical sets, civil systems, masonry, metal work, and fire, water and interactive water elements with their lighting. Out of Driftwood, the crew works across Austin and the Hill Country and has taken interactive water to San Antonio and the lake communities around Lake Travis.
Because the elements catalogue lists splash pads, lazy rivers, waterslides, fountains and diving platforms alongside lap pools and spas, a family estate can combine them: a lap pool and spa for the adults, a slide and a shallow splash zone for the children, planned as one environment.
Keeping a busy water park running
The word maintain is in the firm's own description of this work, and it matters. Interactive features tend to see more bather traffic and wear than a private pool, and the team brings its water chemistry knowledge and full-service monthly swimming pool maintenance to the sites it has built. Cosmetic and full renovations are available when a surface or a feature has run its course.
Amenity centers also tend to grow in stages. Master planning and phased installation let a community open with a lazy river and add a splash pad or slide later without rebuilding the first phase. If you are weighing an amenity center, a ranch slide or a children's water feature, call (512) 722-3636 and a project manager will contact you about beginning the proposal process.
One of the few firms in the country that can design, build and maintain large scale water parks and family fun environments.
Selected earlier work
Where has Aqua Builders built water for play?
Ebbn Milks lists these among the projects behind the firm, from public fountains to a family slide on a Hill Country ranch.
- 01
Concord Plaza
San Antonio
Jumping jet fountains.
- 02
Children's water feature, Chris Park
San Antonio
A children's water feature.
- 03
Belvedere
Community lazy river
A community lazy river.
- 04
The Cypress Club
The Reserve at Lake Travis
A water park at The Reserve at Lake Travis.
- 05
Driftwood Ranch
Hill Country
A family waterslide on a ranch, built with partner Glen Screws Construction.
Next to this work
What keeps a play environment running?
- Commercial and hospitality
Hotels, resorts, condo developments, master planned communities and baptismal pools, from the urban core to lakeside and hill country.
- Maintenance and renovation
Full-service monthly pool maintenance, phased installation and cosmetic or full renovations of existing pools.