A day at the sea

Introduction

Imagine diving into cool, clear water under a blue sky on a warm summer’s day – as Die Fantas­ti­schen Vier (The Fanta­stic Four) describe in their song “Ein Tag am Meer (A day by the sea)”.

“Du spürst die Lebens­en­ergie (You feel the energy of life)
Die durch dich durch­fließt (That flows through you)
Das Leben wie noch nie in Harmonie und genießt (Life like never before in harmony and you enjoy it)
Es gibt nichts zu verbes­sern (There is nothing that can be improved)
Nichts was noch besser wär’ (Nothing that could be even better)
Außer dir im Jetzt und Hier (Except you in the here and now)
Und dem Tag am Meer (And the day at the sea)”

It is precisely this expe­ri­ence of a refres­hing swim outdoors that Ernst Ulrich Till­manns and his colle­agues from 4a Archi­tekten strive for when desig­ning swim­ming pools. 4a Archi­tects have already desi­gned, built or reno­vated nume­rous swim­ming pools in Germany, Austria and Russia – and have won several prizes in the process.

Avoid slaughterhouses

In order for the buil­ding to fulfil its intended func­tion perfectly, all areas must be connected and well orga­nised. Guests should find their way around with ease, the available space must be used opti­mally.

“It is very important not to waste space and to ensure that the design is as trans­pa­rent as possible. If you start plan­ning early, you can save a lot of money,” says Ernst Ulrich Till­manns. “The atmo­sphere of the buil­ding is just as important. Some older swim­ming pools, like slaugh­ter­houses, have white tiles and ther­e­fore look rather cold. Instead, it’s better crea­ting a warm and invi­ting feeling of well­ness. Ther­e­fore, choo­sing the right mate­rials is crucial.”

Nature at the pool

Ernst Ulrich Till­manns speaks up for an archi­tec­ture that brings nature into the inte­rior of the buil­ding.

“Since we humans prefer swim­ming outdoors, it is important to create the impres­sion that you are being active outdoors. This can be achieved with large glass surfaces that create a visual connec­tion between the inte­rior and exte­rior. Other options are light colours and wood wool to carry the outside atmo­sphere inside. We did this, for example, when reno­vating the Lochenbad, a smaller swim­ming pool from the 1970s. With bright green acou­stic panels and large glass surfaces, it seems as if bathers are immersed in a natural land­scape”.

Variety

He concludes: “If mate­rials enable variety of design in addi­tion to acou­stic proper­ties, this offers us archi­tects great poten­tial.

One example is the recently opened water and leisure park in Kusel. The coloured ceiling elements in parti­cular lend the buil­ding a special charm. With their colour scheme, which is based on a colourful field of flowers, they lend the indoor pool a cheerful atmo­sphere and, last but not least, its own iden­tity.”