Filling the Pool

Filling the Pool is a project that emerges from the real needs of an existent community: the Nostra Llar neighborhood. Through participatory sessions and meetings with local administrations, the economic and social vectors are incorporated into the design process in order to obtain a proposal that becomes pragmatic as well as provocative.

The proposed project is, from the very beginning, determined by its economic reality: there is only a 500.000€ budget for the whole reconditioning. At the same time, the design process is conditioned by two, a priori, contradictory realities. Sabadell’s local government, the new owner, sees the necessity of opening the space to the city while the Nostra Llar’s neighbors want to preserve the enclosed and welcoming identity of the old swimming pool facility.\nThe first decision is to remove the enclosure of the building currently occupied by the Neighborhood association, which has proven to be spatially and energetically inefficient. By doing this we recover its initial condition as a porched structure that provides shade. This same porch becomes a new element of urban connectivity that gives continuity to the two main parks in the area.\nWe empty the porch and we fill the pool. We decide to cover the abandoned swimming pool with a lightweight wood structure and, simultaneously, to make the pool base accessible through a series of concrete ramps and staircases. We then obtain a generous space in order to place all the new sport activities - a multipurpose facility – while preserving an emotional link to the past. Structurally, the existing “U” shaped concrete slab serves as a perfectly dimensioned foundation. From an energetic point of view, the semi-buried condition of the space allows to take advantage of both the terrain’s thermal stability as well as the solar radiation and ventilation. The new envelope acts as a filter that enhances these natural conditions when necessary through a deployable façade and a ventilated roof.\nThe remaining actions are as discreet as the budget allows. Two small lightweight constructions are added to host the restroom services and a small bar. Also, small parts of the outer pavement are repaired, the lines of the sports courts are repainted, and the fences are fixed improving the visual permeability of the enclosure through them. The recovery of the changing rooms is left for a second phase that would complete the new Nostra Llar’s sports facility.