Be careful where you change while visiting the new Soldiers Field Aquatics Center

Jun. 24—Dear Answer Man,

The new pool at Soldiers Field is quite impressive, but after visiting today, I'm left with a few questions.

As the uninitiated will probably not know, the pool complex provides nice, individual and discreet changing rooms, showers, and bathrooms, but the entire area encompassing and separating them is general admission, for all ages and genders. This means that when yours truly walked into what looked like a normal open locker room with benches and lockers (and, which was indeed the old men's changing spaces) filled with five men in later stages of changing clothes and was about to start changing, he was surprised by three women walking around the corner.

My first question: Is this model the new norm in similar facilities around the country? If so, why? Is there any concern for this change to cause confusion for a hurried or inattentive person who hasn't done the full tour of the facilities? Can someone change in the shared, general locker area in this modern day of changing norms?

I hope my fears of "changing misadventures" and possible mishaps are overwrought, but might more signage be needed in this space? If we changed all the roads downtown to one way traffic, surely, we'd see the need for notice. But, I am old.

What has the reception been like for these new changing areas?

Old Man

Old Man,

It's good to hear you were observant enough to avoid stripping in public.

I can confirm you were not alone.

"It definitely has been new for a lot of people," Rochester Swim Club Executive Director Autumn Kappes told one of my minions when he asked about your experience.

She said younger attendees are more familiar with the concept of gender-neutral bathrooms and changing areas, since they experience them in schools and other areas. The rest of us, with experience showing on our faces and in our hair, need to learn to adapt.

"A lot of water parks I've been to are like that now," Kappes said.

At the Soldiers Field facility, there are signs near the doors and in the public spaces, but Kappes said much of the confusion likely stems from the fact that the bathhouse redesign left the existing doors in place.

"People are just going in the same entrances that they remember as male and female," Kappes said.

The former men's entrance is now labeled as the locker and changing area, and the former women's entrance is labeled as showers and bathrooms.

Regardless of which entrance is used, the areas are connected by common space within the building.

That means stripping out of your street clothes to get ready for a swim outside a designated changing room is frowned upon as much as seeking a skinny dip in the public pool.

Just like you'd go to a changing room in a department store to try on those new slacks, you'd be advised to head to a changing room to get ready for a day poolside.

While there have been some near misses, Kappes said lifeguards make frequent rounds through the bathhouse, so it's unlikely that someone would have time to get fully undressed before being asked to use a changing room.

She said it will likely take some time to raise awareness of the do's and don'ts of bathhouse etiquette.

For those who want the traditional bathroom experience, there are two gender-assigned restrooms with three stalls each, but the remaining areas are gender neutral, allowing added flexibility to accommodate the hundreds of visitors seen each day.

With a maximum capacity of 1,100 at the aquatics center, Kappes estimated the first week of operations saw more than 6,000 visits, meaning the added flexibility is crucial, especially when it comes to people and families with differing abilities and needs.

While private changing and shower rooms provide a chance to change into swimsuits, Kappes estimated approximately 70% of visitors arrive at the facility ready for the water, with public shower spaces offering a chance to wash off the pool water before heading home.

Personally, that's my preference. I'll be showing up in swim trunks, ready to head down the water slides or lazy river. After I leave the water, a nice stroll in the park is enough to dry off my trunks for the ride home, where I can change and shower in a space that's more comfortable than a public bathhouse.

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