La Espe­ranza

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

Client

Muni­ci­pa­lity of San Juan
Bürger­meis­terin Carmen Yulín Cruz
Puerto Rico

Buil­ding contractor

BIM Contrac­tors

Physical address

La Espe­ranza
Calle 19 Ne Pto Nuevo
San Juan
PR 00921

Aerial view

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Opening

2015

Author

Fuster + Archi­tects

Photos

FUSTER + Archi­tects

PHOTOGRAPHS

VIDEO

About

“More Sports. More Archi­tec­ture.” offers archi­tec­ture, buil­dings, products, ideas and trends for sports and leisure.
We’re behind this: More Sports Media, a PR agency specia­li­zing in archi­tec­ture, sports and leisure. We offer you support in your public rela­tions work and in all your publi­ca­tions: Copy­wri­ting, Desig­ning, Publi­shing.
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Stutensee swim­ming pool

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

Client

Stadt Stutensee
Rathaus­straße 3
D‑76297 Stutensee

Project team

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

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Opening

September 2018

Author

Johannes Bühl­be­cker
More Sports Media

Photos

David Matthiessen

PHOTOGRAPHS

PLANS

VIDEO

About

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We’re behind this: More Sports Media, a PR agency specia­li­zing in archi­tec­ture, sports and leisure. We offer you support in your public rela­tions work and in all your publi­ca­tions: Copy­wri­ting, Desig­ning, Publi­shing.
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Water­front Cultural Center

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

Project team

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

Illus­tra­tions

Luxigon
Kengo Kuma & Asso­ciates

Physical address

Tran­gravsvej 14
1436 Køben­havn
Denmark

Author

Kengo Kuma & Asso­ciates

Aerial view

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ILLUSTRATIONS

About

“More Sports. More Archi­tec­ture.” offers archi­tec­ture, buil­dings, products, ideas and trends for sports and leisure.
We’re behind this: More Sports Media, a PR agency specia­li­zing in archi­tec­ture, sports and leisure. We offer you support in your public rela­tions work and in all your publi­ca­tions: Copy­wri­ting, Desig­ning, Publi­shing.
We know the industry. Give us a try.

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Aarhus Harbor Bath

The maximum amount of life

Aarhus Harbor Bath

New ways to enjoy the water

Aarhus Harbor Bath is an exten­sion of BIG’s current deve­lo­p­ment plan for Aarhus’ new water­front neigh­bor­hood named O4. Similar to BIG’s first harbor bath in Copen­hagen from 2002 which has come to define the Danish capital as one of the most livable cities in the world, Aarhus Harbor Bath and adja­cent Beach Bath provide new ways for the public to enjoy the water in all seasons.

New ways to enjoy the water

Aarhus Harbor Bath is an exten­sion of BIG’s current deve­lo­p­ment plan for Aarhus’ new water­front neigh­bor­hood named O4. Similar to BIG’s first harbor bath in Copen­hagen from 2002 which has come to define the Danish capital as one of the most livable cities in the world, Aarhus Harbor Bath and adja­cent Beach Bath provide new ways for the public to enjoy the water in all seasons.

Maximum life

Toge­ther with urban life expert Jan Gehl, our stra­tegy was to create a frame­work for maximum amount of life with the minimum amount of built subs­tance. Aarhus Harbor Bath zig-zags gently into the island, extends all the way out into the harbor pool and back again. The swim­mers can enjoy the circular diving pool, a children’s pool, the 50m long lap pool or one of the two saunas that are tucked under­neath the public board­walk which doubles as a viewing plat­form who those who prefer to stay dry.

Maximum life

Toge­ther with urban life expert Jan Gehl, our stra­tegy was to create a frame­work for maximum amount of life with the minimum amount of built subs­tance. Aarhus Harbor Bath zig-zags gently into the island, extends all the way out into the harbor pool and back again. The swim­mers can enjoy the circular diving pool, a children’s pool, the 50m long lap pool or one of the two saunas that are tucked under­neath the public board­walk which doubles as a viewing plat­form who those who prefer to stay dry.

Bath and blocks

In front of Aarhus Harbor Bath, a series of free­stan­ding restau­rants, a children’s theater, beach huts for various acti­vi­ties and other life-crea­ting public oriented programs were desi­gned before the private buil­dings blocks which will rise in the coming years. As a result, the private resi­den­tial buil­dings at O4 become subor­di­nate to the needs of the public realm.

Bath and blocks

In front of Aarhus Harbor Bath, a series of free­stan­ding restau­rants, a children’s theater, beach huts for various acti­vi­ties and other life-crea­ting public oriented programs were desi­gned before the private buil­dings blocks which will rise in the coming years. As a result, the private resi­den­tial buil­dings at O4 become subor­di­nate to the needs of the public realm.

Swim shorts and walkway

Aarhus Harbor Bath gives the resi­dents and visi­tors of the island a more enga­ging and adven­turous water­front expe­ri­ence who can use the harbor bath not only in swim shorts but as a walkway that extends the public realm into the water, breathing new life into an area histo­ri­cally reserved for indus­trial purposes.

Swim shorts and walkway

Aarhus Harbor Bath gives the resi­dents and visi­tors of the island a more enga­ging and adven­turous water­front expe­ri­ence who can use the harbor bath not only in swim shorts but as a walkway that extends the public realm into the water, breathing new life into an area histo­ri­cally reserved for indus­trial purposes.

Project data

Team

Part­ners-in-Charge: Bjarke Ingels, Finn Nørkjær, Andreas Klok Pedersen Project Leader: Jesper Bo Jensen, Søren Marti­nussen Project Team: Annette Birthe Jensen, Franklin Nata­lino Simao, Giedrius Mama­vicius, Jacob Lykke­fold Aaen, Jakob Ohm Laursen, Johan Berg­ström, Kris­toffer Negen­dahl, Lucian Tofan, Nicolas Millot, Richard Howis, Ryohei Koike, Soo Woo

Opening

2018

Author

BIG

Aerial view

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Images

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Allas Sea Pool

The modular pool

Allas Sea Pool

About

The Allas Sea Pool is a floa­ting sea pool that is opera­tional all year round. It offers an oppor­tu­nity to enjoy outdoor bathing even in the Nordic winter weather. The goal is to offer an expe­ri­ence of the Nordic values of good life by acti­vating people’s rela­ti­onship to the water­front and by provi­ding a comfor­table and invi­ting atmo­sphere.

The first Allas Sea Pool was completed in the very heart of Helsinki in May 2016. After the pilot phase, the Sea Pool Family is now expan­ding both natio­nally in Finland and inter­na­tio­nally around the world. In order to create a new global concept for the Allas Sea Pool Family, an invited archi­tec­ture compe­ti­tion was orga­nized by Töölö Urban in April 2018. The proposal by OOPEAA was selected as the winning entry. The jury praised the proposal by OOPEAA for its impres­sive outdoor archi­tec­ture and for its strong concept.

The future Sea Pools will be built on floa­ting plat­forms on coastal sites in places where it is not possible to build on land. There will be several variable factors on each buil­ding site, and the concept needs to be flexible, modular and adjus­table. The first one in the series on floa­ting pools to be realized on the basis of the global concept deve­loped by OOPEAA in diffe­rent cities around the world will be built in Oulu in Nort­hern Finland. It is sche­duled to be ready in 2019.

New Nordic Urban

The winning proposal for the new global concept for the Allas Sea Pool Family by OOPEAA takes the notion of the New Nordic Urban as its starting point. The ‘New Nordic Urban’ is defined as a sense of expe­ri­ence. It brings toge­ther the Nordic sensi­bi­lity for the contem­pla­tion on nature with a healthy orien­ta­tion towards physical acti­vity and an urban incli­na­tion towards the social aspects of life. It is a cele­bra­tion of the Nordic values of egali­ta­rian sharing and good life.The ‘New Nordic Urban’ is essen­ti­ally about brin­ging toge­ther the social sense of the urban (to see and to be seen + to share in the company of others) and a chance to enjoy nature and the element of water (contem­pla­tion + physical acti­vity and sports).

Choreo­graphy

The concept builds on the seam­less choreo­graphy of move­ment and tran­si­tion between open spaces and vistas, semi-open spaces with views, and closed spaces joined by pathways of tran­si­tion connec­ting diffe­rent types of spaces toge­ther. It is about the choreo­graphy of what is seen and what is hidden from the view, and the choreo­graphy of moving from one type of space and acti­vity or mode of being to another. It is also about how people move, both physi­cally in the space and also mentally through their expe­ri­ence: from the rela­xa­tion of the spa and sauna to the enga­ge­ment in sports and physical acti­vity to enjoying the social aspects of life in the company of others.

Modular and scalable buil­ding system

With a flexible buil­ding system, the archi­tec­tural concept is scalable and appli­cable to any site in the world. At the moment the proposed range of the sizes varies from the smal­lest size with an indoor area of 800 to the largest size of 3500 m² built on a floa­ting plat­form varying in size from 2000 m² to 10 000 m². In the future also smaller and larger appli­ca­tions may be deve­loped. Combined with a custom toolbox, the modular system opens up possi­bi­li­ties for easy custo­miza­tion depen­ding on varia­bles such as custo­mers’ needs, seasonal changes and local requi­re­ments etc. It can be adapted to meet the needs of diffe­rent audi­ences.

The timber struc­ture made of CLT elements is an ecolo­gical choice that allows for flexi­bi­lity in appli­ca­tion as well as for sustaina­bi­lity in the life cycle of the buil­ding. Trans­por­ta­tion of the modular elements for the partly floa­ting struc­ture is possible to arrange over water­ways.

Project data

Archi­tect

OOPEAA
Office for Peri­pheral Archi­tec­ture
Tiede­katu 2
FI-60320 Sein­ä­joki

Team

Anssi Lassila,
Kazu­nori Yama­guchi, Tomoya Nishi­mura, Liuxin Yang, Teemu Leppälä

Client

Töölö Urban

Author

OOPEAA

Address

Kata­ja­no­k­an­lai­turi 2a
FI – 00160 Helsinki
(case study)

Compe­ti­tion year

2018

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Noor­der­parkbad

Wavy pavi­lion

Noor­der­parkbad in Amsterdam

Pavi­lion in the park

The swim­ming pool Noor­der­parkbad in Amsterdam is a free-stan­ding buil­ding with an airy appearance that invites the public to step inside. By focu­sing on easing the tran­si­tion between land­scape and buil­ding and brea­king down the typi­cally large scale of a pool accom­mo­da­tion, Noor­der­parkbad is empha­sized as a pavi­lion in the park. The softly shaped volumes and curved rain curtain are the media­tors between buil­ding and park. Two stacked volumes deter­mine the shape of the buil­ding. By moving the upper volume to the rear the buil­ding blends well with the scale of the park as well as the resi­den­tial area. In addi­tion, the setback enables the pene­tra­tion of daylight deep into the buil­ding.

Wavy rain curtain

The wavy rain curtain is the most striking element of the Noor­der­parkbad. Prima­rily an educa­tional element, it commu­ni­cates how closely the swim­ming pool is connected to water. On a rainy day, the water flows like a water­fall trick­ling down the curtain and lets the visitor see how rain­water becomes bathing water. On sunny days the curtain shim­mers like a congealed cascade, while on wintry days the ice crys­tals trans­form the buil­ding into an ice palace. Also, the curtain thea­tri­cally marks the entrances to the pool: it is pulled up and guides the visitor into the buil­ding.

Family pool

The Noor­der­parkbad is the new public family pool for the north of Amsterdam and will serve an important social func­tion. The tradi­tional theme of a bath­house as a meeting place for the neigh­bor­hood is reflected in the atmo­sphere of the inte­rior. Inti­mate enclosed spaces alter­nate with high ceilings and skylights. The wooden rhom­boid roof cons­truc­tion and finishes of floor, ceiling and wall in tradi­tional mate­rials lends the buil­ding a warm atmo­sphere.

Sustainable design

The ambi­tions concer­ning a sustainable design for the Noor­der­parkbad are very high and already taken into account from the layout of the floor plan. Acting like a warm blanket, the secon­dary func­tions are ther­e­fore wrapped around the three halls of the various pools, which are heated to high tempe­ra­tures. Only the south facing eleva­tions of these halls have no climate buffer, allo­wing the sun to heat the space and visi­tors to enjoy the beau­tiful view over the park.

Project data

Archi­tect

de Archi­tekten Cie. B.V.

Keizers­gracht 126

NL – 1015 CW Amsterdam

Team

Branimir Medić, Pero Puljiz

Hans Hammink, Lars van Hoften, Louis Afonso, Paulos Kinfu, Rink Alberda, Theo Martens, Ernst van Raaphorst

Client

City of Amsterdam

Opening

2015

Author

de Archi­tekten Cie. B.V.

Address

Het Noor­der­parkbad

Snee­uw­balweg 5

NL – Amsterdam

Aerial view

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Supre­ma­tist Pool

Unusual percep­tion

Supre­ma­tist Pool in Moscow

Access to the river

The Supre­ma­tist Pool is located in Moscow city center, over the Moskva River and next to Push­kin­skii Bridge and Gorky Central Park of Culture and Leisure. The project is an addi­tion to the current use of the park, where a recent project renewed its river­side edge, giving it contem­po­rary features. The idea is to allow access to the river and estab­lish a rela­tion to the water compo­nent, encou­ra­ging unex­plored uses on it. The possi­bi­lity of gene­ra­ting a floa­ting pool on the river opens a spatial perspec­tive of the city. An important feature of the project is the compo­si­tion of diffe­rent floa­ting compon­ents, that allow its use in summer, while it can be dissem­bled when the winter comes. It is a tempo­rary floa­ting element.

Pure non-objec­ti­vity

The formal compo­si­tion and concept of this project is based on a famous pain­ting by Kazimir Male­vich follo­wing the precepts of Supre­ma­tism and its prin­ci­ples of “pure non-objec­ti­vity”. This pain­ting is used as an aesthetic inspi­ra­tion, due to its geome­tric compo­si­tion that makes it an appro­priated visual object of the Russian culture. Between abstrac­tion and sensi­ti­vity of inha­bited space, provi­ding a socio-spatial character to pure geome­tric patterns. It is the purity of these patterns what define the space connec­tions, rhythms, tensions and uses, avoi­ding the induc­tion on func­tional pre-estab­lished shapes.

Program

Program­ma­ti­cally the project connects the river­bank with its inte­rior, through a wooden deck, allo­wing fluid access to floa­ting plat­forms that contains the pools. These plat­forms are inter­con­nected and displayed accor­ding to the pain­ting. Its struc­tures are built in metal and wood, with glass fiber hulls in the sides joined by a steel struc­ture geometry-stabi­lized from its wide beam. The project allows having inde­pen­dent floa­ting plat­forms to ensemble or dissembling accor­ding to the seasonal needs.

Adding value

Over this deck, spatial comple­men­tary volumes such as showers and chan­ging rooms are placed which corre­spon­ding to the Maleviche’s geome­tric compo­si­tion, re-inter­preted under volu­metric proper­ties. In its urban inser­tion, the floa­ting pavi­lion acts as an exten­sion of the surrounded park, linked to it and adding value of a spatial living struc­ture. As conse­quence, the sense of leisure in the city space is enhanced, exacer­ba­ting spatial inter­pre­ta­tion diffe­rent from the current urban spaces; It offers a unusual percep­tion of the city.

Project data

Archi­tect

100 Archi­tects CN – Shanghai

Team

Marcial Jesus, Mada­lena Sales

Aerial view

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Author

100 Archi­tects

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Water Park Aqual­agon

A new type of land­mark

Water Park Aqual­agon at Villages Natures Paris

A land­mark

The direc­tion of the winds and the path of the sun have deter­mined the floor plan of Water Park Aqual­agon. Protected from cold north-easterly winter winds, nest­ling up to the forest, the aquatic park opens towards the west to make the most of cool breezes in warm weather.

Looking out to the south-west, Water Park Aqual­agon is bathed in light throug­hout the year. It is oriented so as to receive as much sunlight as possible in winter, while protec­ting itself from exces­sive expo­sure to the sun through its terraces in summer.

Like an origami sculp­ture, our proposal for the aquatic park resem­bled an unfol­ding land­scape, culmi­na­ting at around 35 m: it is a built land­scape, rising into the sky. The struc­ture is clearly visible from the surroun­ding area – it becomes a point of refe­rence and a symbol of Villages Nature, a holiday village near Euro Disney Paris.

This new type of land­mark contrasts with the rela­tively flat topo­graphy. It is not an element which has been imposed on the land­scape, but an exten­sion of the land­scape itself.

A world that emerged from the lake

Located by a large expanse of water, Water Park Aqual­agon looks like a world that has emerged from the lake. It is an aerial cons­truc­tion, laye­ring hanging gardens, playing with water and trans­pa­rency. The terraces are open to walkers, and are used to oxygenate the waters of the lake. The new land­scape is composed of water­falls, mist, steam and aquatic plants.

The unique character of the aquatic park, which blurs the lines between land­scape and built envi­ron­ment, creates a beacon, visible from all parts of Villages Nature. By day and by night, the aquatic park becomes a major icon of the site.

Spec­ta­cular views

The origami struc­ture is open to the public, it becomes an exten­sion of the aquatic faci­li­ties: Water Park Aqual­agon offers a new expe­ri­ence to visi­tors explo­ring this built land­scape. The struc­ture pres­ents a stun­ning vantage point over the inside of the aquatic park and offers spec­ta­cular views of Villages Nature and the wider land­scape.

A circuit offers a walk around the buil­ding, exten­ding the board walk prome­nade. A lift offers the occa­sion to climb to the top of the walk to enjoy the view. 

Direc­tional trans­pa­rency

As the origami unfolds, it creates empty spaces. These spaces are filled by large glass panels that let natural light into the aquatic centre and give visi­tors the sensa­tion of a conti­nuity between the inte­rior and exte­rior.

At the top of the buil­ding, a trans­pa­rent dome with a remar­kable geometry allows visi­tors to swim while watching the sky. This dome forms the silhou­ette of the aquatic park.

The struc­ture and the roofing have been opti­mised to disap­pear in the sight lines from the basins and accen­tuate the presence of the sky. The aquatic park is flooded with light. This is enhanced and softened by the orien­ta­tion of the buil­ding, the play of reflec­tions and diffu­sion of natural light.

At water level, there is complete conti­nuity with the exte­rior – swim­mers can leave without any obsta­cles.

Plans

A perma­nent spec­tacle

All the elements of Water Park Aqual­agon parti­ci­pate in crea­ting a sense of spec­tacle which serves to heighten the expe­ri­ence of the aquatic acti­vi­ties in the park. The remar­kable ecosystem estab­lished by the planted terraces forms an instruc­tive path. The various elements related to envi­ron­mental sustaina­bi­lity – geo-thermal energy, water recy­cling – come toge­ther to form a coherent narra­tive that struc­tures the entire project, and can be clearly read by the public.

The prin­ciple of the project, with its accu­mu­la­tion of levels, extends the aquatic park into sun-lounges, terraces and restau­rants. These acti­vi­ties can easily be linked to seasonal varia­tions in atten­dance.

An audi­to­rium barge arrives in the evenings and at various times of day to offer concerts and shows.

The aquatic park forms an extra­or­di­nary back­drop for Villages Nature’s shows on the lake, fire­works displays and light shows.

An archi­pe­lago

The entrance to the aquatic park is connected to a large fore­court around which Villages Nature’s diffe­rent “public” spaces are arranged: forum, sports centre.

The hall, which opens onto the lake, leads to chan­ging rooms via a long corridor and servant spaces (machine room, storage, etc.). Once visi­tors have gone through the chan­ging room area, they discover the inner space of the aquatic park, desi­gned as a large expanse of water strewn with islands of various sizes and with a variety of func­tions.

This archi­pe­lago extends outside, into the lagoon, accen­tua­ting the conti­nuity between indoors and outdoors. The air pavi­lion links the other two pavi­lions. It is set back from the edge of the lagoon to create a protected space.

Project data

Archi­tect

Jacques Ferrier Archi­tec­ture

24 rue Dareau

F – 75014 Paris

Team

C&E Ingé­nierie (Enve­lope and struc­ture engi­nee­ring)

Inter­s­cene Thierry Huau (land­scape)

Sensual City Studio (life­guard station design)

Client

Villages Nature Paris

(Pierre et Vacances-Center Parcs _ Euro Disney SCA)

Opening

2017

Author

Jacques Ferrier Archi­tec­ture

Address

Water Park Aqual­agon

Route de Ville­neuve

F – 77700 Bailly-Romain­vil­liers

Aerial view

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Photo­graph

Luc Boegly

Hugo Deniau

Didier Boy De La Tour

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Models

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Sørenga Sjøbad

Floa­ting Oslo

Sørenga Sjøbad

Sørenga pier and Sørenga Sjøbad

The middle part of the Sørenga pier in Oslo has a new park area that extends into a beach: Sørenga Sjøbad. Around the whole pier a new harbour prome­nade culmi­nates and extends into a wooden floa­ting jetty with diving boards, a 50m pool with lanes, and a 200 m² sea water pool. The beach and sea water pool of Sørenga Sjøbad are exposed to the fjord and have a wide view out to the Hove­døya Island and over the city centre, with the new Barcode area and the Oslo Opera house. The new area offers oppor­tu­ni­ties for water related acti­vi­ties in summer and is in use as a recrea­tional centre throug­hout the year. The 50-metre sea pool allows for trai­ning and compe­ti­tions. It includes a diving tower, seating and open-air showers. The floa­ting struc­ture and all elements are covered with a timber decking, a mate­ria­lity that binds the jetty and harbour prome­nade toge­ther.

Master­plan

The idea of a public, floa­ting park was a key part of the master­plan and the design compe­ti­tion for Sørenga Sjøbad, won in 2005 by LPO archi­tects (Oslo) and Archi­tect Kris­tine Jensens Tegne­stue (Aarhus). New housing on the pier requires protec­tion from impacts by an unli­kely, but possible, ship acci­dent. The tech­nical solu­tion was to make the waters shal­lower nearer to the pier, which allowed for the new beach. The concept for the park is to sepa­rate the land side from a floa­ting struc­ture, in such a way that the water becomes the most active part of the park. The wooden surface of the jetty is a large open space, with a rough and robust expres­sion, and is intended to reflect elements from former harbour struc­tures.

One size fits all

The new recrea­tional areas at Sørenga Sjøbad are intended both for the new inha­bi­tants on the pier as well as for the city as a whole. The beach and sea water pool of Sørenga Sjøbad has become a very popular new recrea­tional desti­na­tion in a part of Oslo that is under major trans­for­ma­tion, and for an inner city that has lacked physical contact with the sea.

Struc­ture

The jetty is a wood-covered concrete struc­ture, measu­ring 190 meters long by 28 meters wide. It weighs 4,650 tons and is comprises about 3,700 m². Inside the concrete there are 5,800 m³ water resistant poly­sty­rene. The park and prome­nade are of Sørenga pier and Sørenga Sjøbad univer­sally desi­gned with respect to mate­ria­lity, tran­si­tions gradient of ramps and orien­ta­tion options. All the wood-covered areas are in Kebony, a Norwe­gian-deve­loped tech­no­logy. Kebony is envi­ron­men­tally friendly, patented process, which enhances the proper­ties of sustainable soft­wood with a bio-based liquid. The process perma­nently modi­fies the wood cell walls giving Kebony premium hard­wood charac­te­ristics and a rich brown color. Over time, the surface fades, but keeps its tech­nical proper­ties.

Project data

Archi­tect

LPO arki­tekter

Rosen­borg­gata 19C

NO – 0356 Oslo

Team

Archi­tect Kris­tine Jensens Tegne­stue 

Dr.Ing. A. Aas-Jacobsen (Struc­tural engi­nee­ring)

Norcon­sult AS (Land­scape archi­tect)

 

Client

Bjør­vika Infra­struktur AS

Opening

2015

Address

Sørenga Sjøbad

0194 Søreng­kaia

NO – Oslo

Aerial view

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Photo­graph

Tove_Lauluten

Foto MK AS

Sorenga Utvi­k­ling AS

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Carpa Olivera

Slide and mermaid

Carpa Olivera in Mexico

History

Origi­nally built in 1915 and inspired by sea pools in Lisbon, the Carpa Olivera was a social center on Olas Altas beach in the Historic Center of Mazatlan, a city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. Many famous people of that time gathered and socia­lized here, and it was a must for every tourist. In 1954 Carpa Olivera was devas­tated by a hurri­cane, leaving it in aban­don­ment, but with time people came to use the pool. In the year 2004 it had a remo­de­ling that soon fell into neglect and vanda­lism.

Idea

As a proac­tive team that gene­rates ideas for impro­ving their city, Colec­tivo Urbano, composed by five archi­tec­ture, land­sca­ping and urba­nist firms, made the proposal to rescue this public space to the Mazatlan Invest­ment Unit, led by the archi­tect Roberto Diaz. Propo­sing to recycle, clean and return this pool fed by tidal water to it´s sple­ndor, and inte­grate a new playful element: a spiral slide that drama­ti­cally promotes the social reac­ti­va­tion for local and tourist, where children and fami­lies have fun. This element acts as a strong singular sculp­ture by the sea.

Slide

As a sustainable stra­tegy, a commer­cial space that will be proposed conces­sion, giving due atten­tion to the main­ten­ance and moni­to­ring of the site, ensu­ring optimum opera­tion condi­tions without direct cost to the city of Mazatlan. On the top level and connected to the pede­strian sea wall is an open area, that serves as a lookout and where a pre-exis­ting sculp­ture is relo­cated, allo­wing pede­strians to rest in a peri­meter bench while watching the horizon and the beau­tiful Mazatlan sunsets.

Ramp

Descen­ding the ramp is a surrounded stepped square fitted out as an area of shade, crea­ting an oasis of coconut palm trees, which inter­con­nects to the snack bar. On the lower level you get to an area where there is a long bench, where you can contem­p­late the good fun and the dancing water foun­tain, where children recreate before ente­ring the sea pool or climb the water slide to enjoy the wet rush it offers. At this level on the end, we find rest­rooms and shower offe­ring a complete service.

Project data

Archi­tect

Colec­tivo Urbano
Archi­tektur:
[H] arqui­tectos
Jacque­line Meixueiro, Roberto Díaz, Javier Hidalgo
EPAr­qui­tectos
Emilio Castañón, Erick Pérez , David Escobar.

Team

Cata­lina López, Sacnité Flores, Fran­cisco Pérez, Manuel Bernal, Georg Glau­bitz

Operator

Mazatlan Invest­ment Unit

Opening

2014

Author

Colec­tivo Urbano

Address

Mazatlán
Sinaloa
Mexico

Aerial view

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Photo­graph

Onnis Luque

Images

Videos

Castell dels Hams

Always the sun

Hotel Castell dels Hams, Mallorca

History

In 1967, a small hotel called Hotel Castell dels Hams was estab­lished on the island of Mallorca, amid the Medi­ter­ra­nean vege­ta­tion. Over time, and through subtle impro­ve­ments and exten­sions, it has become one of the most distinc­tive hotels on the eastern part of the island. The last of the altera­tions, meant to cele­brate the Medi­ter­ra­nean light and the location’s idyllic bond with nature, turned the hotel into much more than just a holiday desti­na­tion.

What’s new?

The project centred on repla­cing the cove­ring and enclo­sure of the exis­ting heated pool and to create an adja­cent spa to supple­ment it. During deve­lo­p­ment, the project was split into two inde­pen­dent zones, each desi­gned to suit its own specific purpose. The main pool area is adorned with a series of square openings for windows in the roof that allow the light to flood into the area. The spa, intended for skin treat­ments and rela­xa­tion, is located to give the visi­tors the best views of the surroun­ding land­scape and is also filled with light in all rooms where light is needed. The place­ment of the two zones makes them meet at a single point where one faces the other, so that they are inter­linked. This gives access to both through the hotel lobby, which is connected to the main pool area.

Always the sun

The pool was origi­nally connected to what once was considered the back of the hotel, where it was confined to a space that was clearly being wasted. The chall­enge of the project was not only to prevent the new areas from being used as secon­dary features, but to ensure they were used to high­light the hotel’s sunniest facade. Now completed, the roof is dotted with windows. This inter­play of window areas in the roof creates a beau­tiful dance of light reflec­tions inside the buil­ding. In the spa area, the space is sculpted and colourful showers of light flow through the roof windows. This makes the buil­ding itself being a part of the treat­ment by offe­ring the feeling of well-being created by nature.

„Smile“

In 2014, the recrea­tional areas and acti­vi­ties were extended and a further enter­tain­ment for the young guests from the hotel Castell dels Hams was created. The vision of this new focus, a big “smile”, focuses his percep­tion from differ­ents view­points and diffe­rent scales, either at the level of the foot, from the terraces of the hotel or inclu­ding the aerial and satel­lite view of Google Maps. A2arquitectos opted for a concen­tric circular orga­niza­tion of the elements, where the child­ren’s pool is the centre. This yellow circle has 12 meters of diameter and clearly differs from the other pools in form and color. Orbi­ting around it, they are differ­ents areas with water games for children, showers, sola­rium… Using a colorful live in this system, unlike the rest of the hotel, they give it a natural place outside the exis­ting original forms. With great inten­tion this colourful fun corner differs clearly from the elegant rest of the hotel. The ques­tion of which area you like better now may only depend on your age.

Project data

Archi­tect

A2 Arqui­tectos Juan Manz­anares Suárez Cris­tian Santandreu Uter­mark

Team

Promo­tora los Rosa­litos S.L. Regina García Borrás. Melchor Mascaró. Frei­x­anet sauna­sport S.L.

Client

Hotel Castell dels Hams

Opening

1967, 2011, 2014

Author

Johannes Bühl­be­cker More Sports Media

Address

Hotel Castell dels Hams Crta. Manacor Porto Cristo Km. 10 Porto Cristo Mallorca, Spain

Aerial view

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Pgoto­graph

Laura Torres Roa Antonio Benito Amen­gual.

Pictures of pool and spa

Pictures of “Smile”

Plans

Videos

Subi Surf Park

What a wonderful world this would be

Subi Surf Park in Perth

History

The closure of the cities primary foot­ball stadium (Subiaco Oval) coupled with the closure of two major public markets presented the commu­nity of Subiaco with a signi­fi­cant set of economic, cultural and iden­tity chal­lenges – and was the start of Subi Surf Park. Subiaco had for the last 100 years been heavily asso­ciated with Foot­ball and Markets and their loss was compoun­ding an ongoing decline created through the homo­ge­nisa­tion of a once diverse urban village. Subiaco Oval (“Subi“) is located in Subiaco, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Form­erly the highest capa­city stadium in Western Australia and one of the main stadiums in Australia, seating 43,500 people, the ground was the home of Austra­lian rules foot­ball in Western Australia, being the home ground for the West Coast Eagles and Fremantle Foot­ball Club. Both clubs moved to Perth Stadium, completed in late 2017 and offi­ci­ally opened on 21 January 2018.

Design

MJA studio began work on Subi Surf Park after recei­ving a letter invi­ting parti­ci­pa­tion in a commu­nity survey from the local council in anti­ci­pa­tion of the closure of the stadium. MJA’s response to the survey took the form of a sche­matic proposal based around the prin­ci­ples of: inclu­si­vity, expanded public space and access, acces­si­bi­lity, recrea­tion and reco­gni­tion of heri­tage. MJA studio proposed the follo­wing sequence of events:

  • Subiaco Oval to be demo­lished, concrete to be crushed for re-use
  • Replace Oval with large water­body
  • Surround water­body with public open space
  • Elevate the public open space, crea­ting a hill rising above the flat topo­graphy of Subiaco
  • Acti­vate the Ground plane with a perma­nent market­place, hospi­ta­lity and Foot­ball Hall of fame
  • Insert 220 dual aspect apart­ments between the Ground plane and the new elevated public space
  • Create a new axial link between the two adja­cent train stations and line this axis with terrace housing and addi­tional public squares and event space
  • Open Subi­Surf Park utili­sing Wave­Garden tech­no­logy in the large water body

Lagoon

Subi Surf Park will deliver the highest quality man made waves on the planet, and the most authentic surfing expe­ri­ence for new and exis­ting surfers of all ages, expe­ri­ence and ability. Once the lagoon has been filled the water required per annum is equi­table to what is curr­ently used on the exis­ting stadiums lawn. Boun­dary Hill is a 12,800m² exten­sion to Kitchener Park, the 1:20 gradient allows for disabled access without handrails throug­hout. This new public park is desi­gned for passive and active recrea­tion space as well as a tempo­rary event space and oppor­tu­nity to survey the lagoon, CBD and land­scape beyond. The built form of the park and apart­ments below follow the geometry of the former stadium but their taper ensures a reduc­tion of overs­ha­dowing to the southern neigh­bours of 25%.

It’s all there

The apart­ments are desi­gned to maxi­mise the amenity of the end user ensu­ring solar access and cross venti­la­tion wherever their loca­tion. Each apart­ment has a private and public balcony space flan­king their apart­ment allo­wing them to choose their level of inter­ac­tion with the rest of the deve­lo­p­ment. Market­Hall ensures a perma­nent home for a new 3,000m² public market which can be open all week and on weekends can expand onto a 6,500m² Market Square. The inten­tion of the Market programme is to support micro-entre­pre­neurs and help diver­sify the Subiaco economy. The history of Austra­lian Foot­ball on the site is reco­g­nised throug­hout the proposal with imbedded art instal­la­tions, augmented reality and a home for the WA Foot­ball Hall of Fame. Subi Surf Park is a bril­liant concep­tual proposal that MJA studio pitched to the local govern­ment and stake­hol­ders in 2015. Unfort­u­na­tely, imple­men­ta­tion is still uncer­tain.

Project data

Archi­tect

MJA studio Suite 6 / 23 Railway Road Subiaco 6008 Western Australia

Address

Subiaco Rd Subiaco WA 6008 Australia

Aerial view

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Author

MJA studio

Plans

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