Always getting better

The gem

Kastrup Sea Bath is one of many architectural gems of København’s Ørestad region. It is part of the Kastrup Strandpark waterfront park on the east coast of Amager. Conceived as a fully-accessible outdoor swimming facility, Kastrup Sea Bath transformed an overlooked brownfield site into one of Denmark’s most enchanting, recognisable and popular leisure destinations.

The snail

Affectionately known as ‘The Snail’, Kastrup Sea Bath consists of the pool enclosure, as well as a new beach and service building, complete with toilets and accessible changing room. The form was in response to the north-facing beach; a wooden pier stretches from shore and curves around to form a south-facing circular enclosure.

The pier

The pier gradually rises above the sea level and ends in a five metre diving platform. The circular shape creates a concentrated interior that provides shelter from the wind and the perfect retreat for swimming and sunbathing. A continuous bench runs along the pier, providing additional spaces for leisure and reflection.

Inclusion in 2005

Inclusion was an important part of the concept. Designed as an untraditional framework for outdoor sporting activities, Kastrup Sea Bath caters to peaceful evening swims, exercise or play, irrespective of age, or physical mobility needs. Ramps, and other special features allow less mobile visitors full access. All 870 square metres of wooden deck are at the visitors’ disposal. Kastrup is free of admission and open to the public at all times.

Designed for life

Kastrup’s dynamic sculptural form is a visible landmark from beach, sea and air. As a visitor moves around the bath, its silhouette constantly changes. The form itself is suggestive of an amphitheatre; from here, you can see and be seen; a rule worth being reminded of in busy communal pools.

Material

Constructed from Azobé, this African hardwood was selected due to its remarkable longevity and aesthetic qualities. Azobé shares the same lifespan as steel and is resistant to rot and woodworm, ensuring that Kastrup will be enjoyed by several generations to come.

At night

At night and during the long dark off-season, dramatic lighting emphasises the sculptural design, heightening the visitors’ aesthetic experience, as well as securing their safety. A series of large uplights illuminate the enclosure and is reflected from the interior walls, gently washing the whole basin space with warm white light. This warmth contrasts with the electric blue lighting behind the open staircase and diving platform. Dual lines of LED spotlights stud the pier walkway, facilitating easier navigation in the dark.

Awards

Kastrup Sea Bath has been awarded a “Honourable mention” at the Architectural Review Award for Emerging Architecture 2006. It was nominated for The Mies van der Rohe Award 2007 and won a Bronze medal and a special prize at the IOC/IAKS Award and IPC/IAKS Distinction in 2009.

Looking at current pictures of the bath in the social media, one has to say that the Kastrup Sea Bath would have deserved even more prizes.

PROJECT DATA

Architect

White arkitekter AB
Östgötagatan 100
Box 4700
116 92 Stockholm
Sweden

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Client

Tårnby community

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Photos

White arkitekter AB
Jason Wang
Dhiego Torrano, Estúdio Deriva

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Author

White arkitekter AB

Physical address

Kastrup Sea Bath
Amager Strandvej 301
2770 Kastrup
Denmark

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Opening

2005

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Full of life

La Esperanza School swimming pool in Puerto Rico

Fuster + Architects

La Esperanza School

La Esperanza School swimming pool is designed as a therapeutic facility to be used mainly by children with physical disabilities between the ages of 5 and 16 years. La Esperanza (Luis Pales Matos) School’s student population of 238 students has grown by 19% over five school years. The student:teacher ratio of 5:1is the lowest in Puerto Rico.

The facilities are open to the public but will be used primarily by students of La Esperanza School; thus the yellowish-green “verde esperanza” color of the exterior and the word “esperanza” (“hope”) written on the bottom of the main pool. This is the first structure of its kind in Puerto Rico.

Situation

The project is located in an unused parking lot adjacent to La Esperanza School. This location provides a connection between the pool and the school by means of a pedestrian passage that connects both sites. This location also helped to save the budget and provides space for a future expansion.

The protagonists of the space are the light and the sky. One of the most important intentions of the project was to create a unique space where natural light constantly transforms the atmosphere inside; creating a direct connection between the user and nature and facilitating the healing process.

Design

The design focuses on empowering the user, highlighting and promoting the spatial experience rather than the clinical requirements necessary for a therapeutic space, while still meeting all the requirements of universal design. This differentiates La Esperanza School swimming pool from other projects of its kind which tend to focus on highly visible clinical requirements such as ramps and handrails, putting in second place the user experience.

Every pool is treated as a courtyard; a prototypical Puerto Rican design element rooted in the colonial and vernacular architectures of the island. From within the pools the ceiling apertures with their tall cylindrical parapets frame the sky generating a direct relationship between users and the celestial sphere. This is important because children receive therapies while floating on their backs, looking upwards.

A welcoming atmosphere

The material used for construction is a structural concrete insulated panel composed of a thermally insulating foam core coated with structural mortar. This keeps the space at a comfortable temperature while the introverted design blocks exterior distractions while still allowing for ample natural light.

The cylindrical shapes and curves of La Esperanza School swimming pool accentuate the introverted and tranquil character of the space creating a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere for the therapies to occur. A small stream of water flowing into the main pool, while working as part of the filtration system, also generates a subtle splashing sound creating an atmosphere of tranquility, relaxation and peace. In contrast to the bright exterior the interior finishes are predominantly white and neutral, keeping with the calming therapeutic nature of the space.

PROJECT DATA

Architect

FUSTER + Architects
P.O. Box 9023387
San Juan
Puerto Rico

Team: Nataniel Fúster, Heather Crichfield, Sadie Winslow, Santiago Garramuño, José Pagán, Luis R. Albaladejo

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Client

Municipality of San Juan
Bürgermeisterin Carmen Yulín Cruz
Puerto Rico

Physical address

La Esperanza
Calle 19 Ne Pto Nuevo
San Juan
PR 00921

Opening

2015

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Author

Fuster + Architects

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Photos

FUSTER + Architects

PHOTOGRAPHS

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And everybody’s happy

Stutensee swimming pool

4a Architekten

All in one

The Stutensee swimming pool is a communal swimming pool. That means that it accommodates different groups of visitors with different needs and requirements: schools, clubs, families and amateur swimmers of all ages.

In addition, only a limited budget and small plot of land are available. Under these circumstances, realizing a compelling design and an economical solution, with a wide range of services, is not so simple. 4a Architekten have sustainably managed to achieve this.

Situation

The Stutensee swimming pool is located between the school and sports centre and the new fairground in the outskirts of Stutensee, Germany, a town with a population of 24,000 inhabitants, near the city of Karlsruhe.

Due to the high groundwater level, the new building was constructed two meters above ground level. This elevated location gives the building a greater presence and a pronounced entrance area with a generous open staircase, which also serves as a suitable meeting point. Inside, the height of the building results in more privacy and a pleasant quality of stay.

Organization

Architecturally, the Stutensee swimming pool is divided into two connected buildings, which are clearly visible from the outside. One houses the bathing hall, the other the entrance and changing area.

The two buildings are approximately the same size and interlock in terms of form and materiality. Both offer plenty of daylight through large openings, but also closed elements where necessary. The bathing hall offers a noticeably greater room height — which is also good for the atmosphere as well as for orientation purposes.

Thanks to the unobtrusive furnishing and the factual and elegant choice of colors and surfaces, the Stutensee swimming pool looks light, airy and spacious from any angle.

Features

The swimming hall includes a swimming pool, a beginner’s pool with slides, rubel cove, neck streams and massage jets with a water depth of max. 1.20 meters, as well as a children’s area with a total water surface of 368 m².

A covered terrace to the east extends the establishment into the outdoor area. The entrance and changing area adjoining the swimming hall to the south with shower rooms and ancillary rooms separates itself from the swimming hall with a lower room height.

The two buildings interlock along the entire swimming hall in terms of form and material. The circumferential strip of the steel-sheet façade also accentuates this interlocking towards the outside.

Construction

The clear organization of the swimming hall and changing area enables a compact and economical design with a favorable ratio between surface area and building volume. This not only reduces construction costs, but also operating costs.

To the west, north and east, room-high glass facades partially offer views into the surroundings (and let in a lot of daylight). The overhangs of the floor slab and the roof area in the west facilitates the generous entrance zone with an open staircase. they provide the transition to the open-air area with a sunbathing lawn in the east.

In order to reduce the proportion of glass facades, the upper facade surface in the north was closed. The prospect remained unchanged. Lower ceiling heights in the entrance and in the changing area reduce the construction volume. In addition, the different heights of the buildings created an offset at the intersection of the roof areas, which structures the Stutensee swimming pool both formally and from the inside. At the same time, a skylight strip supplies the interior with additional daylight.

Material

The materials used for the Stutensee swimming pool were used according to their suitability: The basement and ground floor were constructed in exposed concrete, the load-bearing structure of the wide-span swimming hall and the changing area was constructed using wood. The suspended, acoustically effective lamella ceilings and wall paneling, as well as the perforated sea pine ceiling in the changing area, were also made of wood. The high degree of prefabrication of the wooden elements ensured economical construction and shorter construction times.

The wooden ribbed ceiling was prefabricated — including the roof drainage, lighting, ELA system and suspended lamella ceiling made of local silver fir. The panels between the wooden ribs of the ceiling and on the wall are a decisive influence on the interior effect of the Stutensee swimming pool. The lamella structure is not only a design element, it also optimizes room acoustics.

In the changing room and entrance area, the lower wooden ribbed ceiling is covered with a perforated, white glazed acoustic ceiling made of sea pine slabs.

Conclusion

Municipal swimming pool constructions have a lot to do with budget and operating costs, and with the diverse user groups and their needs; and of course, with sustainability, which, in this context, translates into economic efficiency and longevity.

The Stutensee swimming pool offers different user groups different features. All-in-one, clearly structured and elegantly implemented; with wooden ceilings, glass facades, exposed concrete, porcelain stoneware and mosaic tiles. It’s actually quite a small swimming pool which looks extremely generous in terms of its features. And everybody’s happy.

PROJECT DATA

Architect

4a Architekten GmbH
Hallstraße 25
D‑70376 Stuttgart

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Client

Stadt Stutensee
Rathausstraße 3
D‑76297 Stutensee

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Design:
Anke Pfudel-Tillmanns (Projektleitung), Kateryna Shelegon
Tendering & Contracting:
Markus Christ, Simone Mann, Silvia Nanz und Jan Vollstedt
Construction management: Philipp Schmid
Construction management since 01/2018:
2Plus Baumanagement

Physical address

Stutenseebad
Erich-Kästner-Straße 3
D — 76297 Stutensee

Aerial view

Thank you, Google!

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Opening

September 2018



Author

Johannes Bühlbecker
More Sports Media



Photos

David Matthiessen

PHOTOGRAPHS

PLANS

VIDEO

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La Oliva

by jbuehlbecker | 13 Dec 2018 | Installations & Events

Maritime Christmas

Street lighting on Fuerteventura

Menis Arquitectos

Christmas decor from strandgut

Spanish architect Fernando Menis designed a series of marine-inspired installations, in which objects and materials abandoned by children and tourists in the hotels of the coastal towns of La Oliva are recycled in a process that involves the town’s inhabitants.
La Oliva is located on the island of Fuerteventura, and it strives to produce new attractors for tourists, an industry its economy largely depends on.

Light chains from squid

Menis sought to create an energy efficient Christmas lighting scheme that also adapted the local fishing culture.
The idea was to raise awareness of the perils of sea pollution while also implementing a design capable of providing greater visibility to La Oliva as a tourist destination during the Christmas season

Marine contrast

Menis recycled floats, surfboards, beach toys, etc. and transformed them into giant octopi, jellyfish or palm trees, giving the Christmas decor of the town a more marine motion contrast with the usual reindeer and snowy fir trees.
To achieve this LED lights, small solar panels on nearby boats, simple DIY materials and conventional paint were used.

More to come

Menis proposed a series of installations: the “Giant Squid“, “Hibiscus Flowers“, “Palm Trees“, “Little Boats“ and “Jellyfish Garlands“. In the first edition of this fascinating project in 2017, Giant Squid and Jellyfish Garlands have been realized. More to come. Hopefully.

A squid can be seen “live” at Aedes in Berlin, within our exhibition titled “Backstage”, until January 17, 2019. More information.

PROJECT DATA

Architect

Menis Arquitectos
Puerta Canseco 35, 2B
38003, SC Tenerife
Spain

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Client

City of La Oliva
Fuerteventura
Spain

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Photos

Patricia Campora
City of La Oliva
Menis Arquitectos

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Author

Menis Arquitectos

Aerial view

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

Opening

December 2017

VIDEO

Only visible with Facebook account.

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Waterfront Cultural Center

by jbuehlbecker | 13 Dec 2018 | Design, Pools

Pyramids in the Port of Copenhagen

Waterfront Cultural Center

Kengo Kuma & Associates mit Cornelius Vöge, Søren Jensen und Niels Sigsgaardn

Situation

Kengo Kuma & Associates, in collaboration with Cornelius Vöge, Søren Jensen engineers and Niels Sigsgaard, won the competition to design a Waterfront Cultural Center for Copenhagen. Their project combines facilities for leisure and sports associations and harbour baths in a new and original way.
The new Waterfront Cultural Center with harbor baths at Paper Island is to highlight the significance of water in the history, culture and vibrant urban life in Copenhagen. The harbor is the gate contributing greatly to the city’s development. The waterfront has become the foreground and the background for major cultural facilities and the quality open public area that defines the urban life in the city.

The design focus is to create an experience, and not just a standalone object, in the form of the landscape, art and architecture that are unified and defined by the water. The design proposal strives to offer the diverse experiences of water in various states and conditions such as reflection of light and shadow, steam and flow that appeal to human senses.

Urban approach

The project takes place in the larger development plan of the island. Its architectural form in a series of pyramid shape is in response to the masterplan guideline to work with roof profile of Christiansholm but at the same time it expresses its unique identity. What is distinctive from the rest of the masterplan building is that the architecture does not have a single front, but it is multi directional to be easily recognized and accessible from various directions.
Waterfront Cultural Center is to offer spontaneous, open and tangible place that carries the memory of vibrant and dynamic nature of the present Paper Island. Taking advantage of the prominent corner site of the project defined in the masterplan, the ground floor plane of the indoor to outdoor and to the sea is designed in a single gesture. Landscaping the ground plane in terracing and cascading manner creates expansive, continuous perception of water surface from indoor all the way to the harbor. The design attempts to soften and dissolve the edge and blur the sense of boundary of the land.

Architectural form

The strategy of generating the architectural space structure and the form is to manipulate the composition of positive and negative volumes. A series of cone shape volumes in various proportion is generated by being pushed and pulled vertically and horizontally to create particular experiences for each program. The cone shape roofs extruded above correspond to the division of pools at the ground floor. Each pool has distinctive space in the almost exaggerated scale with concentrated light and shadow through large skylights above.

The level above the ground floor is defined as the “negatives” of these extruded roof volumes. It is an open air pool and hot bath that one would experience swimming and dipped in the “valley” among the architectural hills. The inverted cone in the central position works as structural core. It is the deepest void, “valley” among these roofs where outdoor stairwell is placed.

Brick Façade

Brick is chosen to relate to the context of the area and to highlight the quality and aesthetic of the traditional Danish craft. Its haptic texture and warm natural earthy color tones of masonry would achieve the tangible skin defining interior and exterior. The architetcs want to ecplore the potential of brick in its small scale texture being expressed in the large scale of the architecture. Its small units allows us to play with various openings and tectonics, screening natural lights and shadow that reflects on the water surface.
Waterfront Cultural Center‘s brick façade in various level opacity and transparency is to glow with warm light at night and in cold season when dark hours last long. The perforated and screened brick skin would let soft light out in distinct manner. The dust of lights and their reflection on the water would glow at night and signals the presence of the new masterplan development and expresses itself as new unique icon.

PROJECT DATA

Architect

Kengo Kuma & Associates
Yuki Ikeguchi, Marc Moukarzel, Aigerim Syzdykova, Hannah Appelgren

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Project team

Associate Architect:
Cornelius Vöge
Engineering Design:
Søren Jensen engineers
Consulting architect::
Niels Sigsgaard

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Illustrations

Luxigon
Kengo Kuma & Associates

Physical address

Trangravsvej 14
1436 København
Denmark

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Author

Kengo Kuma & Associates

Aerial view

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SJCC Glamping Resort

by jbuehlbecker | 12 Dec 2018 | Outdoor

Glamorous Camping

SJCC Glamping Resort

Atelier Chang

Glamping

A radical take on the glamping concept has been launched in South Korea, offering guests the experience of being within a natural setting while enjoying the comfort of architecturally-designed, self-contained living spaces arranged around a communal facility.

Glamping is a portmanteau of glamorous and camping and describes a style of camping with amenities and, in some cases, resort-style services not usually associated with “traditional” camping. Glamping has become particularly popular with 21st-century tourists seeking the luxuries of hotel accommodation alongside the escapism and adventure recreation of camping.

This new ‘minimalist luxury’ resort – adjacent to the Seungju Country Club in Suncheon – consists of sixteen brightly-coloured living units with an associated reception/restaurant. Each unit offers guests approximately 50m² of living area, as well as two bedrooms and a kitchen and a bathroom manufactured as off-site units.

Situation

SJCC Glamping Resortis located some 300 kilometres south of Seoul within lush cypress forests and enjoys distant views over the Korean Strait. Drawing diverse references from natural elements such as the site’s dramatic topography, pebbles and fireflies, the resort offers guests a direct and vivid connection with their natural surroundings.

Careful orientation ensures that each unit is well-screened from surrounding units while offering guests dramatic views over Suncheon Ecological Bay. At night, the units – when illuminated from within – appear to form part of the forest’s natural organic layout.

Typology

Atelier Chang brings an innovative approach to the structural design of the glamping units. The light-weight steel frames, covered with an insulated tent-like fabric, create highly resilient structures which are capable of withstanding the region’s significant annual differences in climatic conditions.

The resort includes three principal types of glamping unit; ‘Mountain’, ‘Cutent’ and ‘Firefly’, each of which has a distinctive plan and colour scheme.

The striking restaurant/community facility forms the focal point of the resort. The restaurant and viewing terrace are screened by an elegant geometric arrangement of white steel louvres, mitigating solar ingress.

Construction

Key features of the project include:

Light steel frames are covered with a bespoke fabric made by French manufacturer Serge Ferari. The material is weather and fire resistant and tensioned at the base of the frame to fit the shape of an individual unit
Glazing elements are constructed from double layers of polycarbonate (for privacy), although glass can be used if required
Plumbing and electricity infrastructure is connected to the mains supply although the structures can use natural resources (rain water harvesting and PVs)
Foundations consist of concrete pillars with steel columns supporting the decking to which the structures are bolted.

SJCC Glamping Resort resort took three years to design and construct. The result is an architecturally spectacular resort for a growing target group – in a construction that is sophisticated right down to the last detail. The resort is able to withstand the demanding external conditions (-20 to +40° Celsius). The wait was worth it.

PROJECT DATA

Architect

Atelier Chang Ltd
Soohyun Chang, Carole Froidevaux, Jinman Choi, Ilia Varvaroussi

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Client

POSTMATE / POSCO (SJCC Glamping)

Budget

1.560.000 €

Physical address

492–2 Songhak-ri
Byeollyang-myeon
Suncheon
Jeollanam-do
South Korea

Aerial view

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Opening

2018

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Author

Johannes Bühlbecker
More Sports Media



Photos

Kyungsub Shin

PHOTOS

PLANS

VIDEO

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“More Sports. More Architecture.” offers architecture, buildings, products, ideas and trends for sports and leisure.

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Wuxi Taihu Show Theatre

by jbuehlbecker | 6 Dec 2018 | Design, Installations & Events

Architecture is what you don’t see

Wuxi Taihu Show Theatre

Steven Chilton Architects

A Sea of bamboo

Located close to Lake Taihu in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China, the Wuxi Taihu Show Theatre concept was inspired by the Sea of Bamboo Park in Yixing, the largest bamboo forest in China. The 2,000 seat theatre has been designed to house a permanent water show by Franco Dragone and it is due to open in 2019.

Appearance

The building’s appearance is composed of three primary elements: the columns, the shade canopy and the building envelope. Representing an abstract impression of a bamboo forest, the slender white columns are positioned around the perimeter of the building in such a way as to provide a screen between the building façade and surrounding landscape. The ‘bamboo’ columns clear around the various entrances to help frame the accesses into the building.

Organic qualities

The shade canopy wraps around the perimeter of the building at roof level. Conceptually, it represents the canopy of leaves that exist at the top of a bamboo forest. The canopy is made up of various triangular bays containing rows of gold anodised aluminium louvres. Each bay is orientated randomly to create an organic quality to the structure and light and shade patterns that fall across the building envelope through the day. Each bay of louvres is also set at different angles to heighten the sense of variation when viewed from different angles.

Structurally, each bay of louvres is supported on a triangular lattice structure that braces the tops of the columns and transfers their load into the primary structure of the building. The environmental purpose of the shade canopy and columns are to provide shade over the surface of the façade to passively lower the cooling load on Wuxi Taihu Show Theatre.

Outer edge

The building envelope is primarily composed of rendered and painted block-work and curtain wall glazing. The glazing is the full height of the building in and above the entrance lobby to provide maximum views into and out of the main public areas. It is fritted with white and gold stripes that travel the full height of the building mimicking the ‘bamboo’ columns and contributing to the effect of the building being the outer edge of a forest of bamboo.

Ethereal beacon

At night, the building envelop is illuminated from below, becoming an ethereal beacon, glimpsed between the forest of ‘bamboo’ columns, drawing spectators and audience in from across the lake and surrounding development.

The theatre is due to open in December 2019.

Wuxi Taihu Show Theatre is currently a finalist for the World Architecture Festival Future Project Award in the Cultural Category.

PROJECT DATA

Architect

SCA | Steven Chilton Architects

London



Client

Dalian Wanda Group

User

Dragone
Franco Dragone
Rue de Belle-Vue 23
7100 La Louvière
Belgium

Physical address

Wuxi Taihu Show Theatre
Wuxi
China

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Author

Steven Chilton Architects



Illustrations

Steven Chilton Architects

Aerial view

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

Opening

2019

ILLUSTRATIONS

VIDEOS

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“More Sports. More Architecture.” offers architecture, buildings, products, ideas and trends for sports and leisure.

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