Access

Behnisch Architekten designed a differentiated, well-proportioned ensemble structured around an interior courtyard and landscaped garden. This island of relaxation opens up on a number of levels with attractive exterior areas and a sauna garden. A continuous roof is staggered in height, bringing the structure together and harmoniously linking the various functional sections.

The surrounding glass facades make the Sportbad Friedrichshafen recognizable already from the outside as a bathing landscape. The division into a spacious bathing area with swimming pool and children’s pool on the ground floor and a more intimate upper floor with sauna, catering and staff rooms is also easy to read.

Flooded with light, the foyer of the aquatic sports center welcomes visitors with a pleasant atmosphere; it also gives individual guests and school and club groups sufficient space to meet up and spend some time. The transparent design provides views through to the pool area and lets visitors get their initial bearings.

Courtyard

Arranged around this interior courtyard are the bathing areas, with a textile steam bath (swimsuits required), the external swimming channel, an area for babies and toddlers featuring various attractions, a learners’ pool, a swimmers’ pool, and an eighty-meter water slide. The pool for schools and clubs has an integrated diving section with one-meter, three-meter, and five-meter boards, and part of the floor can be raised or lowered.

The swimming area

All heated benches are covered with round mosaics not least because a specific advantage of this material is that it clings directionlessly and homogeneously to such curved structures like a tailor-made suit.

The changing and sanitary rooms are decorated bright yellow to compensate atmospherically for the absence of daylight.

Sauna world

The catering facilities are situated on the upper level too, between the swimming and sauna areas; these can be used by visitors to both sections. An elegant open staircase links not only the different functions but also both levels at this point.

With regard to formats and locations, the floor tiles of the Trias series of Agrob Buchtal were used identically in the sauna area of the upper floor as in the bathing landscape on the ground floor. The only difference is the slightly darker colour iron ore, which, together with the generally warmer and earthier range of colours, creates a cosy room atmosphere.

Conclusion

The Sportbad Friedrichshafen is a showcase example of how strong the emotional effect of ceramic wall and floor tiles can be. The great variety of colours, forms and formats in this project is never an end in itself, but always part of a sensuous holistic overall composition, which lives not least from details that are initially hardly noticeable, such as, for example, the letter plates made of floor tiles from the series Trias of Agrob Buchtal, which indicate the depth of the water at the pool edges.

Instead of using standard off-the-shelf stainless steel panels, the architects wanted to use tiles of different colours to create a homogeneous appearance. After cutting out the numerals using water jet technology, the parts were reassembled, pointed and integrated as “ceramic inlays” with a casual naturalness – one of many proofs for the successful symbiosis of unobtrusive creativity and architectural stringency.

Laid-back.