Between the Forest and the Water

There are projects that impress prima­rily because of their archi­tec­ture. And there are projects whose true strength lies in the stories they tell. The Forest Pool in Liberec, Czech Repu­blic, clearly belongs to the second cate­gory. This was not simply the cons­truc­tion of a new func­tional buil­ding for an outdoor pool—rather, through a combi­na­tion of civic enga­ge­ment, intel­li­gent wood archi­tec­ture, and public support, a place that had defined the community’s iden­tity for decades was trans­formed once again into a vibrant gathe­ring place.

At the confluence of two streams, on the edge of the Lidové sady resi­den­tial neigh­bor­hood in Liberec, lies the “Lesní koupaliště”—the Forest Pool. Nestled among centu­ries-old spruce trees, this natural swim­ming area has been part of the city’s coll­ec­tive memory for gene­ra­tions. The water is considered excep­tio­nally cold, and the loca­tion is unique.

Its history dates back to the 1930s. During World War II, the bath­house was parti­ally used for mili­tary purposes, but at the same time remained a popular local recrea­tion spot. After several expan­sions, the faci­lity fell into incre­asing disre­pair. It was closed in 2007, and in 2010, a fire destroyed the former opera­tions buil­ding. Only the concrete foun­da­tions remained. It wasn’t until 2016 that a gradual revi­ta­liza­tion of the site began, before the natural swim­ming area could reopen to visi­tors in 2018.

The decisive impetus came in 2020 from the commu­nity project Lesní koupa­liště, founded by Mjölk archi­tekti. Rather than waiting for large-scale funding programs, the archi­tects, toge­ther with nume­rous volun­teers, took over the opera­tion of the faci­lity them­selves.

Due to a lack of finan­cial resources, the project initi­ally involved crea­ting makes­hift furni­ture, setting up basic cate­ring faci­li­ties, and carrying out initial impro­ve­ments with the members’ own labor. At the same time, plans were deve­loped, grants were applied for, and private dona­tions were coll­ected. A signi­fi­cant portion of the funding ulti­m­ately came from the parti­ci­pa­tory budget of the city of Liberec. After the buil­ding permit was granted in 2022, cons­truc­tion of the new buil­ding began. When the budget became tight again, a one-time finan­cial contri­bu­tion from the city ulti­m­ately helped complete the project in time for its opening in 2025.

The new buil­ding is deli­bera­tely not intended to be an archi­tec­tural state­ment, but rather the func­tional back­bone of the entire natural swim­ming area.

On a site measu­ring just 320 m², a light­weight wooden struc­ture was built, with a geometry that follows the exis­ting concrete foun­da­tions. The archi­tects combined CLT solid wood panels with a light­weight wood-frame struc­ture. Inte­grated into this struc­ture are storage areas, rest­rooms, a bistro, a sauna, and common rooms.

A parti­cu­larly striking feature is the widely over­han­ging roof supported by a deli­cate steel struc­ture. It shields visi­tors from both sun and rain and creates a spacious, semi-public outdoor area. Showers, chan­ging rooms, and lockers are located enti­rely under this roof, keeping them closely connected to the surroun­ding land­scape.

The design deli­bera­tely avoids styli­stic flou­rishes. The white-painted facades, with their rhythmic round arches, draw on classic motifs of public outdoor swim­ming pools, yet appear time­less and natural.

From a distance, the buil­ding is almost comple­tely hidden behind the tall coni­fers. Only as you get closer does the quality of the open archi­tec­ture become appa­rent: the spacious canopies, the trans­pa­rent tran­si­tions between indoor and outdoor areas, and the direct connec­tion to the water create an atmo­sphere more remi­nis­cent of a shel­tered forest pavi­lion than a tradi­tional outdoor pool.

With the new infra­struc­ture, the Forest Pool will see a signi­fi­cant boost in func­tion­a­lity. In addi­tion to chan­ging rooms, rest­rooms, and dining faci­li­ties, the inte­grated sauna, in parti­cular, will ensure that the faci­lity can be used well beyond the summer months in the future.

Further deve­lo­p­ment steps are already planned: children’s play areas with water, terraced seating steps, and addi­tional sports and recrea­tional offe­rings are intended to comple­ment the faci­lity in the long term. The project is expli­citly not intended to be a completed cons­truc­tion project, but rather an ongoing deve­lo­p­ment process—for and with the people who use Forest Pool.