Fast times: everyone's heard of a fast pool, but what does it really mean? Even the experts aren't so sure. by Benjamin Friedland.

In swimming, speed is everything. The same goes for facilities. Just as athletes want to break records, universities want to boast pools where records get broken.

In short, they want fast pools.

Talk of fast pools began in the late 1970s, when scientists began to study pools and how to improve them. Experts understood the limitations of the human body and looked for ways to improve the pools themselves.

"Scientists and coaches studied the splash a diver makes when he dives into the water to begin a race, and how that water is distributed throughout the pool," says Rowdy Gaines, United States Swimming Association alumni developer and a three-time gold medalist at the 1984 Olympics.

The University of Houston's new competition pool is just one example of how designers tried to employ that science to create a "fast pool."

"The school was very clear throughout the process that it wanted the best competition pool out there," says Wayne Hughes, AIA, the managing principal of Sterling, Va.-based Hughes Group Architects, the primary architectural firm on the university's athletic center. "So we're all excited for that first round of times."

With speed in mind, design teams set out to build the fastest pools they can through a range of techniques--from water depth to gutter type--to ensure fast times. But these measures don't actually guarantee anything because swimmer speed depends on the swimmers themselves.