Pool with a view

Infinity London

Compass Pool

Ambitious

Death defying swim­ming pools are set to become an archi­tec­tural trend in central London, allo­wing visi­tors to float over 200 metres above the capital’s skyline. Pool desi­gners at Compass Pools have deve­loped Infi­nity London, the only buil­ding in the world to incor­po­rate a 360-degree infi­nity pool.

The pool is made from cast acrylic rather than glass, as this mate­rial trans­mits light at a similar wave­length to water so that the pool will look perfectly clear.

The floor of the pool is also trans­pa­rent, allo­wing visi­tors to see the swim­mers and sky above.

Getting into the water

Swim­mers will access the pool through a rota­ting spiral stair­case based on the door of a subma­rine, rising from the pool floor when someone wants to get in or out. A little bit James Bond to boot!”

Normally a simple ladder would suffice, but the desi­gners didn’t want stairs on the outside of the buil­ding or in the pool as it would spoil the view – and obviously they don’t want 600,000 litres of water drai­ning through the buil­ding either.

Building services

Other advanced tech­nical features include a built-in anemo­meter to monitor the wind speed. This is linked to a computer-controlled buil­ding manage­ment system to ensure the pool stays at the right tempe­ra­ture and water doesn’t get blown down to the streets below.

Boas­ting an inno­va­tive twist on rene­wable energy, the pool’s heating system will use waste energy from the air condi­tion system for the buil­ding. The hot gas that is produced as a by-product of crea­ting cold air in the buil­ding will run through a heat exch­anger to heat the water for the pool.

The pool is also fitted with a full spec­trum of lights which will give the buil­ding the appearance of a spar­k­ling jewel-topped torch at night.

Approach

Compass Pool’s swim­ming pool desi­gner and tech­nical director Alex Kemsley commented: “Archi­tects often come to us to design roof top infi­nity pools, but rarely do we get a say in the buil­ding design because the pool is usually an aftert­hought.

“But on this project, we actually started with the pool design and essen­ti­ally said, ‘how do we put a buil­ding under­neath this?’ “When we desi­gned the pool, we wanted an unin­ter­rupted view, both above and below the water.

It will have a five-star inter­na­tional hotel on the top floors of the buil­ding with the pool used by the guests.

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