Aquatic centers are defined by activity. Making space for focused exercise and leisure alike, they are designed to support different scales of movement. At their core, they center on swimming pools. These structures explore ideas of light and space spanning millennia, from Pakistan's "Great Bath" at the site of Mohenjo-Daro and Ancient Greek palaestras to contemporary swimming complexes.
Beyond Álvaro Siza's renowned Leça Swimming Pools, there are a number of monumental aquatic centers and swimming pools around the world. The following projects showcase some of these designs at a range of scales. The designs include diverse programming, as well as unique connections to the surrounding landscape. As both open-air and indoor facilities, they feature a range of set lanes and loose pathways to enjoy the aquatic life.
Théâtre d'eau Swimming Pool / LOG Architectes
The new design of the Fumel public swimming pool is based on the reorganization of the site in an effort to give it back its integrity and return it to its optimal use. To do so, the site is treated as a component of the natural landscape. The entrance is oriented on the south west angle, on the higher edge of the site, in direct relation with the access road.
Tournesol Swimming Pool Refurbishment / Urbane Kultur
183 "Tournesol" swimming pools were built in France during the 1970s by architect Bernard Schoeller. These are rational objects, which offer amazing spatial qualities, natural light, high quality indoor / outdoor relationship with large sliding doors and a certain elegance in structural design. Urbane Kultur completed a refurbishment of one of these structures in Lingolsheim, France.
Habitat Recreation Centre / DFJ Architects
Habitat Recreation’s floating translucent roof beckons visitors to explore under its sculptural wings. Provided free of charge for use by residents and tenants, it offers daily opportunities to relax, meet neighbors and build community. It features a grassed area, 25-metre lap pool, kids pool, showers, changing rooms, barbecues, ping pong tables, lockable bike storage and a garden.
Freemen’s School Swimming Pool / Hawkins\Brown
The scheme designed by architects Hawkins\Brown provides a 25m, six lane competition pool, with changing facilities and a multi-purpose teaching and events space. The new pool uses state-0f-the-art timber construction and offsite fabrication methods to create a sustainable building that sits gently within its context.
Swimming Pool Allmendli / Illiz Architektur
The challenge put forth in Erlenbach was to accommodate all areas of the pool in the underground shelter. The team of Pöyry Schweiz AG and illiz architektur suggested an alternative approach: instead of excavating under the former billet to accommodate the enormous volume of the pool, the pool would simply be suspended above the existing volume of the underground space.
Regent Park Aquatic Centre / MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects
The 12 year Regent Park Revitalization project began in 2005 to redevelop the 69 acre community to be a vibrant mixed-use mixed-income community. The Regent Park Aquatic Centre, completed in 2012, is the key civic amenity centred on the eastern flank of the new central park development as the heart of the revitalization.
Thames Lido / Marshall and Kendon Architects
Thames Lido, formerly King's Meadow Baths, was built in 1902 as a ladies only swimming pool beside the Thames in King's Meadow, Reading. The team inserted a dozen new rooms for a Spa, enclosed a new restaurant and added a new ‘west wing’ containing kitchens and a function room. From the outset the aim had been to keep as much of the original building as possible.
Paracelsus Bad & Kurhaus Swimming Facilities / Berger+Parkkinen Associated Architects
The new public bath highlights Salzburg’s landmarks and mountains and represents a visionary architectural project in the city’s historic center. In terms of urban design, the new "Paracelsus Bad & Kurhaus" forms a joint between the late 19th-century block structures of Auerspergstraße, the open development along Schwarzstraße, the landscape of the Kurgarten and the Mirabellgarten.
