St. Edmund’s Home for Children

St. Edmund’s Home for Children

Bryn Mawr, PA

Serving children with profound medical and intellectual disabilities, St. Edmunds Home for Children wanted to add a pool at their facility to expand their therapeutic offerings. MAI designed an addition with a skylit therapy pool, giving special consideration to providing pool access in a variety of ways.

A number of the children have limited mobility and could, with assistance, enter the pool via a ramp.  However, many children require a full support lift. Traditional pool lifts did not work well for the children, so MAI worked with the staff to devise a custom overhead rail/lift system to accommodate the needs of all the children. The system has a sling support which enables the staff to transport the children safely and comfortably from the pool to shower area to drying/changing cots.

Energy efficiency and the practicalities of ongoing maintenance were considered as well. The pavilion was designed to be daylit with translucent, insulated wall and roof panels. When lighting is required on cloudy days or at night, linear LED light fixtures that span the pool come on, providing direct and indirect lighting. The fixtures not only save energy but area also easy to maintain as the light source and power are located outside of the deck area.