Baltimore Reclaims the Public Pool

The City of Baltimore is on a mission to help erase decades of public pool segregation and expand equitable access to facilities for all city residents. It also hopes to promote exercise and community well-being via what the city calls “Rec Rollout.”    

As part of that effort, officials have invested heavily in new public pools throughout the city. In June 2025, the city celebrated the grand opening of the Coldstream Aquatic Center in northeast Baltimore. At the event, Mayor Brandon Scott said the new pools signal the city’s commitment to public health, equity, and community revitalization. 

Coldstream is one of five pools that have been completed or are currently in development, and CannonDesign is responsible for all five. “The pool designs started, I think, in 2021, and the intent with the first one was to establish a kit of parts that could be adaptable, replicable, and more affordable, so that they could be brought to every neighborhood where they are needed,” says Monica Pascatore, design leader at the firm. 

This kit of parts, Pascatore explains, includes two primary structures: a pump house that contains all the aquatic equipment and the bathhouse with four restrooms and an office. “There are some interchangeable things that can pop between them—an extension of the roof, extension of the trellis, and storage space,” the architect says. “The next parts are the recreation pool and the lap pool, and then the fifth part is really the enclosure—the security fence for safety.” 

The flexible, kit of parts system can be implemented on any size lot, any orientation, or any location with site-specific tweaks. Pascatore explains that the components—the two buildings and the pools—can shift around based on site size and context. As proof, the site sizes for the five pools range from 23,111 square feet to 54,600 square feet.  

CannonDesign used straightforward wood construction for the buildings to make the project simple and affordable. Because maintenance is an essential part of affordability, the materials are hard-wearing and low-maintenance, including fiber-cement siding, metal cladding, and pressure-treated wood. 

Part of the project’s success, CannonDesign says, was community input meetings. “We heard from the community that there’s a significantly higher demographic of [autistic people] in the neighborhood,” Pascatore says. “So we wanted to grab as much space as we can and put an extra large lawn at one pool to give that demographic space to break away, if the pool is too noisy.”  

To date, three pools have been completed. One is scheduled to open in June 2026, while another remains in the design phase.

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• Cultural
• Infrastructure

• Baltimore
• Community Engagement
• Design for Equity
• Outdoor and Public Space
• Public Space