Eurowoningen Community Pool Pavilion, Leusden, The Netherlands
The Eurowoningen Community Pool Pavilion transforms a technically outdated seasonal swimming facility into the social heart of a neighbourhood. The project explores how architecture can create spaces for collective life in a time when living environments are becoming increasingly individualised.
The pavilion is located within the Eurowoningen district in Leusden, a 1970s neighbourhood designed around human scale, shared spaces and living in close relation to nature. These original ideas formed the foundation of the design. Rather than simply replacing the old building, the project reinterprets the values embedded in the place: community, encounter and the gradual transition between public and private.
The building is conceived as the living room of the neighbourhood, a semi-public space between home and landscape. From the street, the pavilion appears as a quiet dark timber volume that blends into the surrounding greenery. Towards the swimming pool, the building opens completely. Large sliding façade elements disappear into integrated niches, allowing the boundary between interior and exterior to dissolve.
A continuous floor, covered outdoor spaces and a generous aluminium roof edge create a shared space where people naturally gather before and after swimming, during meetings or simply for conversation. The roof edge acts as a unifying architectural element, framing the everyday activities beneath it and giving the ordinary rituals of neighbourhood life a sense of importance.
The material palette strengthens the relationship between building and context. Thermally modified Fraké Noir timber creates a warm and tactile atmosphere. The dark exterior allows the pavilion to quietly merge with the landscape, while the natural timber interior facing the pool creates a welcoming collective environment. The insulated concrete floor functions simultaneously as structure and final finish, polished into a terrazzo-like surface that continues from inside to outside.
Sustainability is approached as a combination of technical performance, longevity and social value. The pavilion uses prefabricated timber construction, locally produced elements, solar panels and efficient energy systems. Beyond reducing environmental impact, the project aims to create a building that remains valuable because people use it, remember it and care for it.
The pavilion is not designed as an object, but as an everyday framework for community life. A place where children learn to swim, neighbours meet, and new memories are created throughout the year.
