One for all

Once there, all in:

The new Huchen­feld district pool impresses with its clear design language, trans­pa­rency, sustaina­bi­lity and family friend­li­ness – and not just in Pforz­heim.

Pforz­heim, a large city with around 135,000 inha­bi­tants on the nort­hern edge of the Black Forest, is an important economic, educa­tional and resi­den­tial center in Baden-Würt­tem­berg. The city atta­ches great importance to a modern infra­struc­ture, and this includes the deve­lo­p­ment and impro­ve­ment of the city’s swim­ming faci­li­ties. The Huchen­feld district pool is the latest example of this atti­tude.

The previous pool at the same loca­tion was closed at the end of 2018 due to its outdated condi­tion. Thanks to a grant of 4 million euros from the federal program “Reno­va­tion of muni­cipal faci­li­ties in the areas of sport, youth and culture (SKJ)”, the new cons­truc­tion project could be tackled.

The archi­tec­ture of the baths is charac­te­rized by bright­ness, friend­li­ness and trans­pa­rency. The nort­hern func­tional area is kept rather closed, while the bathing halls are trans­pa­rent on all sides. Even the foyer offers views into the large bathing hall. A conti­nuous skylight in the north provides optimal lighting for the two bathing halls: the large one with a 25-metre pool and the smaller one for the smaller pools.

The archi­tect and general planner were bauate­lier, inde­pen­dent archi­tects Haas and Hiesch from Stutt­gart.

Soli­taire

The new buil­ding blends into the exis­ting school grounds as a soli­tary struc­ture. New pathways to the north and south connect to exis­ting access struc­tures in the school grounds and lead to the new main entrance in the west, which is clearly visible from afar. A sepa­rate staff entrance provides access to the buil­ding from the new parking spaces to the east of the buil­ding.

A spacious fore­court in front of the pool and sports hall marks the entrance area. Large exis­ting trees were largely preserved, with new plan­tings in the southern area.

Large hall

The spatial program essen­ti­ally comprises an indoor pool with a 25-meter pool and a child­ren’s pool.

The large indoor pool has a 25m x 12.50m vario pool suitable for compe­ti­tions with five swim­ming lanes, starting blocks, LED under­water flood­lights, massage jets and sports equip­ment.

The pool is certi­fied as a cate­gory D compe­ti­tion faci­lity by the DSV (German Swim­ming Asso­cia­tion) and is desi­gned for both school and club sports.

Sustaina­bi­lity plays a central role in the new Huchen­feld district pool. The plan­ners at bauate­lier achieved the goal of an energy-opti­mized buil­ding in all respects through a combi­na­tion of struc­tural, resource-conser­ving designs and tech­nical measures. These include the increased use of wood, recy­cled concrete, thick insu­la­tion layers and triple thermal insu­la­tion glazing.

The bath­room relies on effi­cient heat reco­very systems, tempe­ra­ture control using geothermal energy and earth ducts as well as a photo­vol­taic system and exten­sive green roofs.

Another important feature is the acces­si­bi­lity throug­hout, which is guaran­teed from the outside to the bath­room and pool.

The trans­pa­rency of the indoor pool areas and the foyer creates a connec­tion to the surroun­dings and allows plenty of daylight into the inte­rior, which gene­rally promotes the well-being of the bathers.

The Huchen­feld district pool is a modern and versa­tile school and club swim­ming pool that combines compe­ti­tion, recrea­tion and swim­ming fun for the whole family.

With a total gross floor area of 2,674 m²n, a total water surface area of 356 m²n and around 50,000 expected bathers per year, a new place for recrea­tion and encoun­ters, compe­ti­tion and fun has been created here.

A very successful example of how modern archi­tec­ture, sustainable cons­truc­tion and social func­tion can make a valuable contri­bu­tion to the quality of life in a city.