When summer temperatures climb, a good pool offers more than a place to cool off. From luxurious hotel retreats and restorative spas to historic public pools and ambitious community recreation centres, the destinations that follow are as refreshing to look at as they are to swim in, making them worth a visit for anyone who notices the design details before diving in.
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Forest Pool by Mjölk architekti — Liberec, Czechia
Located in a dense, century-old spruce forest in Liberec, Czech Republic, the Forest Pool (or Lesní koupaliště) has been a communal bathing site since before the Second World War (during the war, it also functioned as a training facility for the military). Fed by two streams, the natural pool is renowned for its deep, ice-cold waters and spectacular surroundings and attracted generations of local bathers — until the pool fell to neglect and a fire destroyed the beloved 1980-built main building in 2010. But its fate was certainly not sealed. In 2016, a community initiative saw the area cleaned up and two years later the pool was reopened — but still more could be done. In 2020, local firm Mjölk architekti founded the Lesní koupaliště association, leased the property from the city and (with support from private donors) set about building a brand-new facility.
After the existing concrete foundation (the only remnant to survive the fire) and wastewater treatment systems were repaired, a new build began. And what the architects and community built is truly stunning. Focused on cost-effectiveness and ease of construction, the main building features a combined system of CLT panels and lightweight timber framing, with a turquoise-painted steel frame supporting the corrugated aluminum roof, which stretches out to provide both shade and shelter from the rain to an outdoor seating area.
The simple yet impactful structure now includes changerooms and toilets, storage rooms, a bistro and a sauna. Once completed, and to celebrate the start of swimming season, the architects orchestrated an annual mass lake jump. With the mayor of Liberec blowing a whistle to kick it off, bathers plunged into the frigid waters of the granite basin and resurfaced rejuvenated, much like the site itself. “We founded this tradition not just as a celebration of spring and swimming,” the architects say of the lake jump, “but as a guarantee that the city will take care of Lesní koupaliště. Stewardship of public spaces should be a basic duty of every functioning city administration.”
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Sky Pool Villas by Apostoli Wellness Creators — Lake Garda, Italy
Nestled within an 11-hectare private park and overlooking Lake Garda in northern Italy is a cluster of five standalone villas that offer the utmost in luxury and comfort. Designed by Alberto Apostoli and his Verona-based studio Apostoli Wellness Creators, the Sky Pool Villas are on the grounds of the larger Lefay Resort & SPA Lago di Garda and represent a new evolution in extended-stay hospitality. Expressing a strong contemporary architectural language, the considerately designed single-level abodes (three two-bedroom, one three-bedroom and one penthouse) are replete with expansive glazing that practically dissolves the border between indoors and outdoors. The sophisticated material palette includes finely crafted Italian raw silk wallcoverings that alternate with lacquered boiserie, Canaletto walnut detailing on the recessed ceilings and luxe Travertino Classico flooring (with Calacatta Oro marble surfaces in the penthouse), which all lend the interiors a level of warmth and refinement that encourages relaxation and a slower pace of life.
Continuing this dream-worthy experience outside, the villas each feature a private terrace that almost defies reality. Bordered by gardens of native Mediterranean plants and boasting breathtaking views to the lake and surrounding mountains, the personal sanctuaries are appointed with warm wood furniture, a kitchenette with bar and a heated infinity pool. A path of Travertino Classico pavers leads to the sunken pools, which are embedded into the sloping terrain as if they have always been there. For those lucky enough to experience a stay at the Sky Pool Villas, this will surely be the crowning moment — it is truly a private oasis like no other.
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Stile Hotel Rooftop by Design Bitches — Los Angeles, USA
When the Ace Hotel in Downtown LA announced it would be closing at the end of January 2024, many reports called it the end of an era. Opened a decade earlier in the historic United Artists Building, the hotel had led the resurgence of the city’s historic business district. After the pandemic undid some of that momentum, many businesses — including the Ace — packed up. Visitors and locals alike were especially sad to be losing the hotel’s rooftop pool deck, which had become a beloved destination for icy drinks and film industry parties.
But when one chapter ends, a new one begins. The hotel reopened shortly after as the Stile DTLA and underwent its first major renovation to solidify that identity this year. Envisioned by rising local studio Design, Bitches, the new look celebrates “what makes LA unique.” On the rooftop, that translates to aqua-toned pool tiles and café tables plus terracotta-hued concrete, loungers and umbrellas. With plenty of playful, graphic touches like the graphic bar tiles — not to mention the building’s historic spire in the background — the watering hole has cemented its status as a destination once again. And not a minute too late. With the 2028 Olympics on LA’s horizon, the city is in construction mode — and downtown seems set to pick up where things left off: A location of Erewhon, the cult-favourite local grocery store chain, is set to open its first downtown location just around the corner from the Stile DTLA sometime next year.
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SOAK by Badweather — London, UK
Why choose between a boat day and a trip to the bathhouse when you could have both? Set within a wide beam canal boat, SOAK is a floating wellness space that docks at a new location in London every two weeks, moving through the city’s historic waterway en route. Not only does this transient setup allow visitors to fully check out from city life, the facility also operates completely off the grid thanks to eight solar panels, a battery bank and an onboard water filtration system.
Chef and former restaurateur Ricardo Cofacci-Pisanelli teamed up with childhood best friend and architect Leo Sixsmith and his practice, badweather, to return the near-derelict boat to its former glory. It was a full gut job: After addressing the extensive water damage, replacing the rotten floorboards and restoring the hull, Sixsmith introduced retro dark-stained marine plywood and industrial details like threaded rod, T-brackets and chrome-plated copper plumbing to create a moody space.
A new skylight helps to make the tight footprint feel as open as possible, while the existing portholes — finished in SOAK’s brand colours, red, blue, lavender and brown — were enlarged to frame views of the canal, so no matter where you are, you never feel far from the water. While there is a sauna on board — lined in thermally treated Aspen and Alder and heated by a wood fire stove — you might be ready to skip right to the cold plunge. Set within a moody wet room clad in seafoam green tile, the metal plunge pools, custom-designed by badweather, offer a refreshing escape from the summer heat.
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Bagni Masteriosi — Milan, Italy
Part of the fun of Milan Design Week is letting lighting and chair launches lead you to surprising corners of the city. During the 2023 edition of Fuorisalone, Gubi set up its display (complete with a celebration of the Beetle chair’s 10th anniversary) in Bagni Masteriosi — the “Mysterious Baths.” Designed by Luigi Lorenzo Secchi, the circa-1930s rationalist swimming pool complex was transformed for the week into the ultimate al fresco lounge, filled with the brand’s then-new Carmel collection of tables and Satellite outdoor floor lamps. And while the Gubi furnishings may now be gone, the drinks are still flowing. Open to the public for swimming each summer, Bagni Misteriosi also operates an evening aperitivo bar that stays open on Wednesday through Saturday until 10:30 pm. Don’t miss the pools’ Wednesday night concerts during June and July, too. This artistic spirit comes naturally to the venue: It takes its name from a 1934 painting by Italian artist Giorgio de Chirico (the first in a series). To continue the design pilgrimage, follow up your swim and spritz with a visit to the Triennale Milano garden, where Chirico’s 1973 sculpture — also named “I Bagni Misteriosi”— realizes many of the elements from his swimming pool paintings in three dimensions.
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Jones Beach East Bathhouse by WXY architecture + urban design — Long Island, USA
Before Robert Moses transformed it into a veritable paradise in the 1920s, Jones Beach was once a remote expanse of swampland and shifting sandbars. That transformation was inseparable from the rise of automobile culture, with the Wantagh Causeway making the barrier island accessible by car and organizing the beach around mass motoring. For years, the East Bathhouse, designed by Herbert Magoon, was the heart of the complex. From its 1930 opening, the building served as the beach’s main arrival and amenity hub, combining ticketing, rentals, lockers and changing rooms with concessions, restrooms, terraces, dining and entertainment; later renovations added swimming and wading pools, but postwar changes in how visitors used the beach, coupled with the building’s ongoing deterioration, gradually diminished its role before budget cuts forced its closure in 2009. Now, thanks to a thoughtful restoration by WXY architecture + urban design, the East Bathhouse is once again ready to live up to its original civic ambition.
“Updating the Jones Beach East Bathhouse for contemporary use meant understanding what play and wellness mean for families today,” explains WXY Principal and Founder Claire Weisz. “Our challenge was to restore and celebrate the building’s unique architectural identity while creating a joyful attractor for SWIMS, New York State’s learn-to-swim program.” Luckily, the team had good bones to work with: The building’s rich material palette included everything from Barbizon brick, Ohio sandstone and cast stone to wood, bronze, copper, glass block and decorative mosaics. The firm’s approach to preservation was less about freezing the building in time than restoring the architectural layers that had accumulated over the decades — including historic elements discovered during demolition, such as the Mississippi Glass casement windows, decorative stonework, high-grade timber, and original wave-patterned glass block. Where new interventions were added, the architects reinterpreted the original materials, colours and patterns in a contemporary way. Custom concrete breeze-block screens, for instance, offer a fresh take on glass block, while green tile references the green-painted wood doors.
Beyond an aesthetic facelift, the facility has also been brought up to modern standards — and then some. Fossil fuel-based systems have been replaced with electric ones, supported by geothermal wells and rooftop solar photovoltaics; the surrounding dunes have been modified to account for future coastal conditions; and the complex has been designed around projected 2080 flood elevations, combining wet and dry floodproofing to protect critical infrastructure. And the complex is entirely accessible in more ways than one: the zero-entry pool not only provides gradual access for swimmers of varying mobility needs, it offers affordable access to swimming lessons, water-safety education and good old-fashioned family fun.
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Pam McConnell Aquatic Centre by MJMA — Toronto, Canada
When it opened in 2012, the Pam McConnell Aquatic Centre in Regent Park established a beacon — a modern “pavilion in the park” — for the revitalization of the public housing neighbourhood while simultaneously raising the bar for recreation centres across Toronto. With its generously glazed façade and its “dorsal fin” of skylights, MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects’ zinc-clad building is all about transparency and light. And the best part: the many ways that it invites visitors to splash around. Before you step inside, there’s a splash pad just outside the terrace, which also provides access through two double-sided glass doors for sunbathers to stroll out from the indoor pools — a six-lane 25-metre lap pool, a leisure pool and a spa pool — housed under a sculpted mass timber ceiling.
Embraced by residents and celebrated internationally, the project was an immediate triumph and continues to be used and loved. It also tried a bunch of new things that have shaped public recreation spots ever since: It was the first aquatic facility in Canada to adopt the sole use of universal changerooms (to accommodate diverse cultural needs, meanwhile, a screening system can be implemented for privacy swims) and the first in Toronto to use an ultraviolet sanitation system.
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Shirley Chisholm Recreation Center by Studio Gang — Brooklyn, USA
Named after the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress, the newly opened Shirley Chisholm Recreation Center by Studio Gang welcomes visitors with a yawning arched entrance carved into its splendid brick facade. From the lobby, one can immediately see the activities organized across the three lower levels: a gymnasium, walking track and — most important on these dog days of summer — a double-height competition-grade swimming pool. Openings between the floors make these amenities immediately legible, and a vibrant orange staircase, as elegant as it is rugged, grants access to them.
The building’s upper level, meanwhile, hosts a range of community programs, from after-school programs to a media lab; and the rooftop terrace, filled with gardens, provides another tier of experience — the elevated perch is another respite from the hotter climes on the ground. Throughout the centre, citizen artist Vanessa German‘s magnificent sculptures are on display, imbuing the spaces with vibrant cultural depth.
The first LEED v4 Platinum public building in Brooklyn, the Shirley Chisholm Recreation Center features mass timber, a high-performance building envelope, an energy recovery system and all-electric heating and cooling. The design also integrates expanded tree cover, green roofs, water use reduction strategies and a responsible stormwater system. It’s a community place that supports healthy living while also being easy on the environment.
The post 8 High-Design Swimming Spots to Beat the Heat This Summer appeared first on Azure Magazine.
