The local Bellevue channels are awash with the news and developments of our new waterpark. Like everything else online, public opinion is varied and extreme. I, for one, am quite excited. Living just a couple of minutes away, my girls are already planning their first birthdays following the opening, not to mention the year-round fun afforded by the park’s main enclosure. Now, for obvious reasons, the public is mostly focused on promotional renderings and official updates from the city. But as an engineer and someone who loves to dream, plan, and create, I thought it would be interesting to sit down with the folks who actually designed this crazy thing. After all, how often do you get to draw up a giant indoor waterpark, even if you’re in business? So, what follows is my exclusive interview with the masterminds at Holland Basham Architects (HBA), who are the Architect of Record for the new Bellevue Water Park.  

I sat down with Firm Principal Tom Zuk and Associate Partner and Project Manager Mike Eckmann from HBA, who are managing and overseeing the project on behalf of the City of Bellevue. They filled me in on the history of the project, how HBA came to be involved, and how they leveraged their technical expertise and leadership to make the waterpark project the best it can be.

To begin with, HBA has a long and storied history of being involved in many high-profile Omaha Metro projects, including The Steelhouse, The new Tenaska Center for Arts Engagement, and several projects at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium. They also leaned forward to provide multiple community planning concepts for the City of Bellevue’s ‘Revitalize Olde Town’ effort. With so much interesting and dynamic project experience and a positive working relationship, it’s no wonder Bellevue tapped HBA to lead the waterpark design. 

For the uninitiated, Architects do much more than design the layout and aesthetics of a building, especially for a project like this. They serve as both the de facto design leader and technical advocate for the client – a sort of quarterback for decision making, interdisciplinary coordination, and risk management. To that end, Zuk explained how the team used the relationship with the waterpark development company, American Resort Management (ARM), to learn all the best practices and avoid any of the same bumps and bruises from a model facility in Grand Prairie, Texas. 

“So what’s great about that process is Grand Prairie basically, in a sense, opened up their books, and they said to the City of Bellevue, ‘This is what we’ve done successfully. This is what’s worked. Do this. Inversely, this is what’s fallen flat. Don’t go in this direction. This essentially has given the City of Bellevue a running start with the ownership and operations of the new water park, thanks to Grand Prairie.”

After all, identifying and incorporating lessons learned at the beginning of a project is the best way to ensure success. And a massive indoor waterpark is hardly ‘run-of-the-mill’, so any additional advantage can help from reinventing the wheel.

In addition to pulling lessons from similar projects, the team is also partnered with several specialty firms for the unique mechanical and water systems, as well as the unique architectural elements. For example, Canadian firm, OpenAire, specializes in truss frame designs for the water park itself, including the dynamic roof, which can open and close as the weather permits. On the other hand, local firm TD2 was used for the more conventional structural elements of the support building, which will house things like administration space, showers, party rooms, and point of sale.

With so many disciplines needing to coordinate so many parts and pieces, HBA decided to do an assessment of the various scopes and realized there were gaps between who was doing what. But they were able to compensate by pulling from their experience as Cabela’s go-to consolidating architect. After years of piecemeal jobs by one designer after another, Cabela’s approached HBA to simplify its building design process. While HBA was new to retail at the time, their strength as a coordinator was leveraged to come up with more streamlined, unified designs. Fast forward to their very first water park, and now HBA has discussed their water park design process with ARM to be similarly streamlined like Cabela’s. That doesn’t mean HBA will design every new waterpark ARM does, but their goal is to have a significant impact on how future water parks are designed, working alongside ARM.

One theme that I picked up in my time talking with Zuk and Eckmann is that Holland Basham has not let their strong, steady growth keep them from being hungry for the next job. While they’ve partnered with the city on the waterpark itself, there are adjacent hotels, family entertainment centers, and a potential parking structure coming, and HBA seems intent on applying for all that work. An additional feature that really sets the waterpark project apart as the first viable ‘Goodlife District’ is the interconnecting skywalks that will keep the campus integrated throughout the year. Zuk shares:

“You grab your flip-flops, swimsuit, and towel—and even though it’s February and five degrees outside, you can walk straight from your hotel room, down the corridor, and across the skywalk into the water park without ever stepping outdoors. The development vision includes multiple skywalk connections. The overall goal is simple: that once you arrive, everything you need is right there, with family entertainment and complementary amenities all in one place.”

The city has done well to partner with such a strong and committed local team. HBA has done such a great job in partnering with local firms, but also going across the continent to find the industry experts where needed. Their ability to streamline and clarify the typically daunting process of integrating multiple disciplines and their associated systems stands out on a project that has coordination conflicts hiding around every corner. It was great to get the designer’s perspective on such a high-profile project. Like HBA, I look forward to the next one.

Matt Hebert is an engineer and self-published author. His dopamine-fueled creative pursuits have spanned from chicken keeping, sand sculpture, acting, and public speaking, but writing is nearest and dearest to his heart. He lives in Bellevue with his wife and two daughters. You can find him on Instagram at @jerkofalltradeshebert or email him at matt.hebert.books@gmail.com