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- A natural swimming pool for “green” fun
The town of Suben, in Upper Austria, had an outdoor swimming pool which had been closed years ago because of its obsolete technical facilities.
A joint redevelopment programme carried out by Austrian architectural studio Pointer+Pointner and outdoor design studio Wagner&Weitlaner Wasserwerkstatt OG gave the townspeople a new place to bathe last summer.
And this is not just any swimming pool: the old pool was revised and adapted to make it into a sustainable natural pool, in line with a very popular trend which benefits not only nature but the bathers themselves, avoiding exposure to chemical substances.
The old pool was demolished and replaced by a sinuous volume which fits into the natural slope of the land featuring a green roof which also acts as a solarium. A solid building contains the ticket office, a small refreshment stand, dressing rooms and technical facilities.
The existing terraces on the hill were renovated with the addition of wooden strips, also used to make a boardwalk like that in old-fashioned bathing establishments linking the “sunbathing” area with the diving end of the pool.One end of the pool is “shallow” with a small pebble beach for children and non-swimmers; there are also two children’s play areas, one on the sand and one right in the water.As a natural pool, it does not need to be heated, while hot water for the building is heated by a solar system.A day of fun for the whole family at kilometre zero with a very low environmental impact is now a pleasant reality in Suben!
Water design and landscaping: Wagner&Weitlaner WasserWerkstatt OG, http://www.wasserwerkstatt.at
Building design: Pointner+Pointner, Architekturbüro Freistadt-Altstadt, http://www.pointnerpointner.com/
Location: Suben, Upper Austria
Year: 2011
Photographs: Courtesy of Wagner&Weitlaner WasserWerkstatt OG