Swimming Pool | Tag

Urban Waterways Reborn: European Cities Leading the Change in River Restoration and Revitalization

February 12, 2024

In 1988, Jacques Chirac made a never-fulfilled promise to make swimming accessible in the Seine River within 5 years. With swimming in the Seine officially banned by the French government in 1923, the river has been neglected for decades, flooded with high levels of bacteria and pollution resulting from industrialization and urbanization. With the XXXIII Olympic Games happening in Paris, Mayor Anne Hidalgo has drafted a “Swimming Plan,” aiming to finally transform the Seine River into a swimmable urban waterway. The billion-dollar effort outlines the river as a venue for this summer’s aquatic Olympic events.

Throughout history, rivers played a crucial role in the social structures of cities. Along riverbanks, communities often congregated for socializing, swimming, and fishing. Swimming in rivers was a popular summertime activity enjoyed by people of all ages. Whether it was the Thames in London or the Seine in Paris, rivers were bustling with swimmers; integrated into urban lifestyles.

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First-Ever +POOL to Open in New York City This Summer, with Plans to Expand Swimming Access across the State

January 08, 2024

New York Governor Hochul has announced a partnership with the nonprofit Friends of + POOL to open the first urban river-sourced swimming facility in the United States. Utilizing + POOL’s design and technology, the 2,000-square-foot plus-shaped swimming pool is set to open in New York City’s East River in the summer of 2024. In 2010, four young designers, Archie Lee Coates IV, Dong-Ping Wong, Jeffrey Franklin, and Oana Stanescu, established + POOL with the goal of providing New Yorkers with access to free and safe river swimming. Now the state promised to invest $16 million to pilot and scale the system, hoping to expand it across the state of New York.

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Explore 15 Houses That Get the Most Out of an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU)

July 01, 2023

Contemporary family living setups mean parents and grandparents in need of care, teenagers and young adults in need of independence, and homeowners in need of the financial security of a guaranteed passive income are all finding themselves in the same situation, and under the same roof. With little extra space to move into, and few options in an increasingly squeezed housing market to move out to, the simple solution is just to add another roof.

For those in the market for more functional floorspace, detached single-story ADUs (accessory dwelling units) are a simple way to boost a home’s usability fast, while avoiding the regulatory wranglings inherent in more complex structural adaptations.

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Public Pools as Public Spaces: The Role of Swimming and Bathing in Cities

June 15, 2023

When one thinks of public spaces, the image of a pool rarely comes to mind. Public spaces are the center of civic life, places where most interactions, activities, and behaviors follow strict social and cultural norms to ensure the safety and comfort of all users. In contrast, swimming and bathing represent something more intimate and primordial, a sensorial experience distinct from any other. In addition to the health benefits, the act of floating in space creates a break from everyday life and its constraints.

As social spaces, public baths and pools offer an even more unusual experience. Here, regular conduct rules and norms no longer apply. Social nudity becomes the new norm, and, as people strip off their clothes, they also lose their status markers, transforming the pool into an egalitarian oasis. Across history, these often-discredited spaces offered a heightened social experience, fostering connections and bringing a new element to dense urban environments. As a typology present since antiquity, public baths and pools have also been a disputed space, as a manifestation of difficult topics such as gender and racial segregation, gentrification, and surveillance in contrast to the freedom they promise.

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Making Waves: 9 Private Poolhouse Designs

March 17, 2023

Residential swimming pools are nothing new, but they have become an unique component of modern living. Increasingly popularized, pools became a status symbol and a residential recreation element. Today, private swimming pools can be found across the world, and in many different climates. As more pools were built, so too were structures that could house equipment and pool amenities, as well as guest rooms or living quarters. These “poolhouses” were designed as spaces for accommodation, storage, and maintenance.

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Under the Surface: The Complicated History of Public Swimming Pools

September 05, 2022

The end of the summer season is usually marked by crowds rushing to public pools to enjoy their final days splashing around the water. Public pools are much more complex than the fenced-in, chlorinated, and noisy bodies of water that they may seem to be. A delicate history and many socio-economic influences lie beneath the surface and dictate who gets to go for a swim. What happens when pools shift towards becoming private property and a sort of status symbol, and when these public spaces aren’t intended for everyone?

Water and Public Spaces: 19 Pools Around the World

July 31, 2022

Often times in architecture, the way that a project's ability of its underscored elements to subtly carry a dialogue with the existing site is one of the most powerful moments in design. Swimming pools are a great example of these types of projects, since their designs often are a direct response to a variety of existing site conditions, including occupying both inside and outside spaces, assuming different forms, and incorporating a variety of finishes that might completely transform the aesthetic of the space.

How Swimming Pools Evolved into a Modern Status Symbol

July 16, 2022

Few architectural typologies have the power to invoke a sense of being dual-natured quite as the modernist swimming pool can. The design of pools themselves implies that there are moments of activity both above and below the water. Above, and in the more obvious and visible sense, pools act as a space for leisure and athletic training. But underneath the surface, swimming pools have a long-standing history of acting as symbols of surveillance, death, and social conditions associated with an economic class.

Natural Pools: Small Ecosystems for Leisure

April 11, 2022

At a time when biophilia is highly valued in architecture, natural pools become another element capable of increasing the connection with nature, enabling the creation of a recreational and contemplative space at the same time. Also known as ecological or biological pools, they reproduce an ecosystem composed of plants, rocks and even some species of fish.

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Pink House / 23o5Studio

August 13, 2021

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Architects: 23o5Studio
Area: 290 m²
Year: 2019
Manufacturers: Jotun, Kanly, Toto, Xingfa

Ventura Terra House / ComA

April 03, 2021

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Architects: ComA, Architecture and Design
Area: 214 m²
Year: 2017
Manufacturers: AutoDesk, CS Telhas, Daikin, Jular, Revigres, +3Robbialac, Sosoares, Torneiras OFA-3

Brooks + Scarpa Reveals Proposal for Miami’s Aquatic Center and Park

March 01, 2021

Brooks + Scarpa along with PCL and BEA, design/build team is one of three finalists selected for a new community mixed-use complex. Located in the heart of Miami Beach, just one block west of the beach, the structure that replaces a municipal surface parking lot, will include pools, libraries, retail, a community center, and a 3-acre park. Designed as a resiliency hub, the building can accommodate future residential and office use when less parking is needed.

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Sublime Swimming: 14 Examples of Custom Pools

November 17, 2020

What's better than a house with a pool? A house with a pool that's part of the structure of the house. These projects show different ways to incorporate pools and how to resolve issues of weight, moisture and leaks. See the houses below, featuring photos by photographers like Mariela Apollonio, Kent Soh y Marcello Mariana.

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Natural Swimming Pools and an Airport City Master Plan: 10 Unbuilt Projects Submitted by our Readers

October 16, 2020

Focusing on diversity, this curated selection of the Best Unbuilt Architecture showcases a multitude of functions. Submitted by our readers, the projects vary in scale, program, design, and representation. Coming from all over the world, many of these interventions are in progress, while others are still in conceptual phases.

Introducing innovative and out of the box ideas, this roundup includes a floating farm in the Netherlands, natural swimming pools in South Korea, a resort in Hungary, and a cascading museum extension in Armenia. Even more common functions such as a hotel in Vietnam, an infinity loop library in China, a mixed-use building in Iran, headquarters for Yandex in Russia, and a campus in Germany, present inventive approaches and intriguing imageries.

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VenhoevenCS and Ateliers 2/3/4/ Win Competition to Design the Aquatic Center for Paris 2024 Olympics

September 15, 2020

Dutch architectural office VenhoevenCS with its French partner Ateliers 2/3/4/ have won the competition to design the Aquatics Centre for the Olympics Games of 2024 in Paris. The innovative sports center, connected by a new pedestrian bridge to the existing “Stade de France”, will host competitions for water polo, diving, and synchronized swimming. It will also be transformed into a Boccia stadium during the Paralympics. Designed for multifunctional use, the only building to be built for the Games, will remain for the people in Saint-Denis, after the event.

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Fluid Dynamics: Iconic Swimming Pools Around the World

July 30, 2020

Aquatic centers are defined by activity. Making space for focused exercise and leisure alike, they are designed to support different scales of movement. At their core, they center on swimming pools. These structures explore ideas of light and space spanning millennia, from Pakistan's "Great Bath" at the site of Mohenjo-Daro and Ancient Greek palaestras to contemporary swimming complexes.

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Australia's Ringed Parramatta Pool Receives Planning Approval from City Council

April 28, 2020

Parramatta City Council has approved the new Aquatic and Leisure Center project by Grimshaw, Andrew Burges Architects and McGregor Coxall. Located in New South Wales, Australia, the project was reviewed via a development application that outlined the project's vision since its inception in June 2018. The aquatic center will replace the Parramatta Memorial Pool and will integrate with the surrounding park setting.

Anti Reality Designs Coastal Retreat with Inverted Rooftop Swimming Pool

March 19, 2019

Anti Reality has designed a summerhouse for rocky coastal areas, seeking to engage with open surroundings. The one-story house with panoramic views of the sea was designed with seasonal recreation and rural retreats in mind. At 85 square meters, the triangular-based layout is divided into two principal parts: a living space, and a rooftop swimming pool.

Swimming Pool: The Latest Architecture and News