The Prin­ciple of Prag­ma­tism

The main chall­enge was the exis­ting Wies­baden-style gutter. If the over­flow edge had been raised to the level of the pool deck using a Finnish-style gutter (which is common today), the water level would also have risen by about 30 centi­me­ters. This wouldn’t have been a big deal for swim­mers, but it would have been a problem for the exis­ting diving plat­form: The one-meter board would have been reduced to just 70 centi­me­ters, and the three-meter board to only 2.70 meters.

That would have opened up another cons­truc­tion project, because the diving plat­form would have had to be demo­lished and rede­si­gned. And since the ceiling height of the swim­ming pool is tail­ored to the exis­ting faci­lity, a new diving plat­form wouldn’t have easily fit into the exis­ting space either. What seemed like a simple reno­va­tion of the over­flow channel would thus have trig­gered a whole string of addi­tional cons­truc­tion work. Costs were in danger of spira­ling out of control.

Toge­ther with SSC Hörde, Deye Consul­ting ther­e­fore decided to turn the tables. Rather than adap­ting the exis­ting pool to a new stan­dard design, the reno­va­tion would be tail­ored to the exis­ting struc­ture.

(The pictures show the inven­tory.)

The exis­ting rein­forced concrete struc­ture was still usable. Tearing it out and repla­cing it with a comple­tely new pool would have meant a signi­fi­cant inter­ven­tion in the building’s struc­ture and trig­gered precisely the follow-up measures that we wanted to avoid. So Deye Consul­ting and Myrtha Pools deve­loped a custo­mized adapt­a­tion of the new pool system to the exis­ting concrete and tile struc­ture. It quickly became clear: nothing off-the-shelf would work here.

The Reno­vAc­tion system from Myrtha Pools was used for the new pool lining. Stain­less steel, ceramic, and PVC were combined in such a way that the new struc­ture could be installed within the exis­ting rein­forced concrete pool. So the old pool did not disap­pear; rather, it became the foun­da­tion for the new one. This was precisely the chall­enge for the plan­ners: the exis­ting struc­ture and the new system had to be precisely aligned at their junc­tions.

Not even all of the exis­ting tiles had to be comple­tely removed. Only those that were loose or no longer struc­tu­rally sound were taken out. The remai­ning surfaces were smoothed out and prepared for the new system. That may sound almost trivial, but it has tangible conse­quences: Every square meter of ceramic tile that can remain in the pool does not need to be chipped away, disposed of, and then rebuilt. Careful hand­ling of the exis­ting struc­ture thus saves mate­rial, time, and money—not just at the SSC Hörde swim­ming pool.

It is no secret that many German swim­ming pools are in need of reno­va­tion and that muni­ci­pa­li­ties or clubs can often only manage such projects with public funding. The SSC Hörde operates a pool that dates back to the 1970s. Not ever­y­thing about it is state-of-the-art. But a lot of it works. And that is precisely what became the project’s strength.

Every homeowner knows this prin­ciple: No one in their right mind waits until the windows, roof, and heating system all fall apart at the same time. You invest little by little, where it’s neces­sary and as much as your budget allows. Not because it’s parti­cu­larly spec­ta­cular, but because you can’t rebuild your house every few decades. Why should the same not apply to a swim­ming pool?

At the SSC Hörde swim­ming pool, exis­ting struc­tures were inte­grated with new tech­no­logy in this way. The total net invest­ment for the reno­va­tion amounts to appro­xi­m­ately 835,000 euros. Of this, appro­xi­m­ately 530,000 euros went toward the 25-meter swim­ming pool, appro­xi­m­ately 230,000 euros toward piping and water treat­ment, appro­xi­m­ately 50,000 euros for plan­ning and cons­truc­tion manage­ment, and appro­xi­m­ately 25,000 euros for site setup and scaf­fol­ding. The city of Dort­mund is supporting the project with grants tota­ling up to one million euros.

The rein­forced concrete struc­ture remains. The diving plat­form remains. Parts of the exis­ting ceramic work remain. New addi­tions include a new pool system, updated tech­no­logy, and solu­tions for the areas where the old and new had to be inte­grated.

The 1970s swim­ming pool was not replaced with a new struc­ture, but was instead tech­ni­cally upgraded and func­tion­ally enhanced within its exis­ting struc­ture.

Hörde is thus demons­t­ra­ting a reno­va­tion stra­tegy that should be of inte­rest to many older swim­ming pools: first take a close look, then decide. Keep using what works. Replace what needs to be replaced. And tailor solu­tions to specific needs where stan­dard solu­tions would make the reno­va­tion unneces­s­a­rily expen­sive.