Contemporary pool architecture needs to fulfil exacting requirements. The sports pool, spa and private pool should be comfortable and safe, sustainable to maintain, easy to clean, and permanently hygienic. No less demanding is the design. Dipl. Ing. Architect Silvia Lederer, swimming pool expert and project consultant at Agrob Buchtal, talks to us about the trends, pitfalls and temperaments that make swimming pool design so exciting and challenging. The former elite swimmer is surprisingly open in the interview.
Ms Lederer, how should someone plan and design a swimming pool?
As simple as it sounds: the first question is what the project needs to do, that is how the building will be used and what it is designed for. The type of pool also makes a difference. Not every swimming pool is alike.
Can you explain that?
Integrated solutions are needed to avoid using a patchwork of materials in complex spatial planning, connecting multiple pools and areas, such as the therapy pool, spa, foyer and circulation areas. Ceramic tiles are a gift here, thanks to their variety of shapes, formats and slip resistance.
What role can and should colour play?
Ceramic tiles can be used to create any mood in a pool or space. A specific advantage of ceramic tiles is that unwanted colour changes, such as fading or darkening, are not an issue even in intense sunlight or lighting, thanks to their absolute colour and light fastness.
Are metal pools a comparable but cheaper alternative?
Quite the opposite. Metal pools are visually monotonous. A tiled pool conveys clarity, purity, transparency and depth. People enjoy immersing themselves in the colour because a body of water like this conveys safety. Metal pools, on the other hand, can act like a mirror, which must first be “broken through”. This leads to performance athletes jumping less cleanly. And when considering the price, if you look at the acquisition cost as well as the main- tenance cost, a metal pool most certainly comes off worse. My Norwegian colleague told me about a swimming pool project that set a costing time frame of 60 years. The operator opted for a tiled pool for economic, technical and visually conceptual reasons.
Energy efficiency has become a survival issue for swimming pools. Are there solutions?
Take the “Bamberg channel”, a pool overflow channel that was used for the first time at the “Bambados” leisure pool complex in Bamberg, Germany. Thanks to its sophisticated design, this solution saves energy by reducing the evaporating flow of water. The channel provides for a particularly gentle and quiet water inflow. Its acoustic effect is also very welcome in public swimming pools or in school and therapy pools.
Healthy living. It is said that this is also part of the DNA of the natural ceramic tile ...
It is the buzz word for our “Hytect” technology. This factory finish reduces air pollutants or troubling odours in changing rooms, showers or toilets etc. Ceramic tiles with Hytect are extremely easy to look after and have an antibacterial effect without the need for any chemicals. These are all benefits that come into play in swimming pools, saunas, and wellness oases.
