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    DJD

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    Ben Gazi
    The document summarizes a natural swimming pool in Edmonton, Canada that does not use chlorine or chemicals. It relies on sand, gravel, aquatic plants and organisms to cleanse the water. The 64,000 square foot facility was designed by gh3 architecture and includes two pools, a sandy beach, changing rooms, and a low-slung building along the edge housing amenities. The building uses gabion walls of local limestone that are mortarless and permeable, helping to naturally ventilate and moderate temperatures, in keeping with the theme of being a seasonal structure without mechanical cooling or heating.

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    DJD

    Uploaded by

    Ben Gazi
    37 views2 pages
    The document summarizes a natural swimming pool in Edmonton, Canada that does not use chlorine or chemicals. It relies on sand, gravel, aquatic plants and organisms to cleanse the water. The 64,000 square foot facility was designed by gh3 architecture and includes two pools, a sandy beach, changing rooms, and a low-slung building along the edge housing amenities. The building uses gabion walls of local limestone that are mortarless and permeable, helping to naturally ventilate and moderate temperatures, in keeping with the theme of being a seasonal structure without mechanical cooling or heating.

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    The document summarizes a natural swimming pool in Edmonton, Canada that does not use chlorine or chemicals. It relies on sand, gravel, aquatic plants and organisms to cleanse the water. The 64,000 square foot facility was designed by gh3 architecture and includes two pools, a sandy beach, changing rooms, and a low-slung building along the edge housing amenities. The building uses gabion walls of local limestone that are mortarless and permeable, helping to naturally ventilate and moderate temperatures, in keeping with the theme of being a seasonal structure without mechanical cooling or heating.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Download as txt, pdf, or txt
    37 views2 pages

    DJD

    Uploaded by

    Ben Gazi
    The document summarizes a natural swimming pool in Edmonton, Canada that does not use chlorine or chemicals. It relies on sand, gravel, aquatic plants and organisms to cleanse the water. The 64,000 square foot facility was designed by gh3 architecture and includes two pools, a sandy beach, changing rooms, and a low-slung building along the edge housing amenities. The building uses gabion walls of local limestone that are mortarless and permeable, helping to naturally ventilate and moderate temperatures, in keeping with the theme of being a seasonal structure without mechanical cooling or heating.

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    he first hint that there is something unusual about

    the new outdoor swimming pool at Borden Park in


    Edmonton, Alberta, is what isn�t there�that insidious
    but telltale odor of chlorine. This is because the 64,000�
    square�foot recreational complex, which includes a sandy
    beach, changing rooms, and plenty of space to soak up
    the sun, is Canada�s first �natural� public swimming
    facility. Instead of using chlorine or other chemicals for disinfection, it
    relies on the cleansing capabilities of sand, gravel, and carefully select�
    ed aquatic plants and organisms.
    And the architecture provides its own subtle clues that something
    is different here. Natural materials are combined with a minimalist
    expression and inventive details to give the Borden Park Natural
    Swimming Pool a refined toughness not normally associated with a
    neighborhood swimming hole.
    Designed by gh3 architecture, a Toronto firm whose practice encom�
    passes both landscape and buildings at a range of scales and types, the
    $11 million project comprises two concrete pools that at first glance
    seem mostly conventional: a small, shallow one for toddlers, and a
    much larger, deeper one for older children and adults. Both are rectan�
    gular, with white bottoms and sides. But they are part of a planar
    landscape. Regardless of the depth, the water�s surface is flush with
    the deck all along the pools� concrete perimeter, which in turn is level
    with the expanses of sand and other areas finished in wood plank.
    This plinth�like zone is defined by gabion walls of local limestone
    that enclose a long, low�slung building along the site�s eastern edge
    housing reception, staff areas, and a snack bar, along with the chang�
    ing rooms. The porosity of the stone walls�mortarless and held
    together by metal cages�is a reference to the filtration process that
    purifies the water, says Pat Hanson, a gh3 partner. Although the con�
    T
    struction method was famously used at Herzog & de Meuron�s late�
    1990s Dominus Winery, in California�s Napa Valley, it is most common�
    ly used for retaining walls and other civil engineering applications,
    rather than buildings. Here in Edmonton, the permeable gabion walls
    seem especially appropriate for a seasonal pavilion, one without a
    mechanical heating or cooling system, Hanson points out. Not only do
    they facilitate natural ventilation, but the thermal mass provided by
    their 3�foot depth helps moderate temperatures within the building
    and just outside it, on the pool deck.
    To accentuate the walls� heft and materiality, the gh3 team has
    deployed a number of visual sleights of hand. Within the stacked lime�
    stone, the architects have concealed the true vertical support system of
    hollow�section steel columns, allowing the enclosure to read as weight�
    bearing. They extended the door and windows the full height of the
    stone�filled 12�foot�tall cages (nearly 3 feet above the interior�s ceiling),
    framed them in steel plate, and pushed the glass far into the openings.
    The assembly is topped with a caplike parapet, only 4 inches high,
    belying the roof�s actual thickness. This set of decisions produces a
    quiet, crisp�edged structure punctuated with deep shadows. �The
    details highlight the elemental, rectangular form,� says Hanson.
    The idea for a chemical�free pool in Edmonton came from residents
    of the neighborhoods surrounding the 54�acre Borden Park, located 2.5
    miles northeast of downtown and known for its meandering paths and
    mature shade trees. Aware of the natural�pool movement�which first
    gained traction in Austria in the 1980s and later spread to Germany
    and elsewhere in Europe�they wanted to replace the park�s rundown,
    1950s�era pool with an unchlorinated one.
    gh3, which has completed several projects in Edmonton as part of
    the city�s design�excellence program, turned to Polyplan, natural�pool
    specialists based in Germany, for help devising the treatment and

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