Leeghwaterbad

Multifunctional swimming pool in Purmerend, with six different pools and a great lucidity of concept, elaboration, and materialization. No budget was expended on exuberant design, it was primarily invested in functionality and high-quality building materials. The building lies on an island in the local Leeghwater Park, and for that reason it was designed as a light and transparent pavilion, giving rise to the idea of an open spot in the woods with a lake. The complex accommodates an eight-lane competition pool, an instruction pool, a pool specifically for the elderly and the handicapped, and a recreation pool designed as a water playground with a super wildwater creek, a waterfall shower, and adventure islands. There is another pool on the outside, connected to the recreation pool inside, and a playpond for the very youngest. The pools are grouped around a four-storey core containing facilities for water purification and air-conditioning, dressing rooms, and a catering sales point. An enormous glass front in the entrance hall gives visitors a wonderful view of the underwater world of the competition pool whose plateau is three and a half metres above ground level. The floors, plateaux, basements, and pools have been constructed using in situ cast concrete upon which a steel main support construction has been assembled. For reasons of hygiene and optical clarity, the supporting columns continue on until below the floor surface. The mountings have been installed out of sight, under the tiling. The roof is supported by galvanized steel beams and it is equipped with skylights. The façades are not load-bearing and consist of alternating open and closed surfaces. The open surfaces are made of glass whereas the closed ones are finished with wood on the outside. Large parts of the interior walls are transparent, so that long sightlines have been created everywhere.