Snapshot: Bringing the outdoors in

By Sigrid Tornquist

When Andy Moon got a call from the Wilderness at the Smokies Waterpark Resort and Family Adventure Center in Sevierville, Tenn., in late December, 2010, asking him how to create an indoor swimming pool out of an outdoor swimming pool, he didn’t hesitate to take the job. The next day he boarded the company’s private plane at the Baraboo Wisconsin Dells Municipal Airport and headed to Tennessee. “Wilderness at the Smokies is owned by the Dells Company and they are building a few of these waterparks across the country,” Moon says. “The work we’d done for them in the past and relationships we’ve built have resulted in repeat business for us.”

Moon and his crew from Baraboo Tent & Awning had 10 weeks to design, manufacture and install the 4,500-square-foot project, which included heavy-duty framework and a fabric roof and sides. The team designed the structure, which curved around the pool deck, using 3-D autoCAD. “There were two main challenges—getting the fabric in and aluminum frames built within the tight timeframe and getting the measuring right because of the curves, both of which we managed to do.” Moon says. A six-person Baraboo Tent & Awning crew did the installation, using cranes on the pool deck to lift the pieces into place.

Sigrid Tornquist is a freelance author and editor based in St. Paul, Minn. She is also the associate editor of InTents magazine, a publication of the Industrial Fabrics Association International.