Multipurpose Indoor Swimming Pool, Santa Ursula (Spain)
The project is a public sports building whose program focuses on an indoor pool oriented towards the sea views, taking into account visual relationships, both inside the building and outside. It is a completely accessible building, whose design responds to the needs of all users, and allowing free access to its spaces with facilities for everyone, transferring architectural concepts to sensory experiences, both tactile, and sound, to bring the architectural experience to the neediest.
Local
Spain
Tenerife Island, Santa Ursula (municipality of Tenerife)
Canary Islands.
Mainly urban
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
No
No
Yes
2010-09-10
As an individual
First name: Cristina Last name: González Vázquez de Parga Gender: Female Nationality: Spain Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Glorieta Pedro de Mendoza 6, 4F Town: Santa Cruz de Tenerife Postal code: 38005 Country: Spain Direct Tel:+34 922 21 32 81 E-mail:administracion@vdparquitectos.com Website:https://vdparquitectos.com
This building is a response to the unique topography of the plot as the continuation of the existing rock of great beauty, to the magnificent views to the sea and to Mount Teide, to the intense sunning from West and to the cold prevailing winds of the Northeast.
The program consists of 3 swimming, 2 gyms, 2 saunas, a children playroom, and 2 multipurpose rooms. All that is organized in a compact set of volumes, which spring from the rock where they are embedded projecting towards the sea. The roughness of the concrete walls follows this intention to expand and geometrize the rock and the roof of the building is conceived as an extension of the natural terrain. The main areas of the building, pools and gym, face the sea through large glazing, and light entering the West is sieved in different ways. In the gym light is sieved with a great flight deck and its side walls and in the pools by a lattice of large format. This three-dimensional lattice, handmade in fibreglass, becomes, from the inside, an abstract filter leading the gaze, reinforcing the direct relationship between pool water and sea water.
To enhance the views of the sea from anywhere in the pool we chose a very simple deck supported by laminated wood beams that optically reduce the height of the swimming area, compressing the space and thus reinforcing the directionality towards the sea. Access to the building is through a small plaza with views to the sea and Mount Teide, and underneath, at basement level, are all maintenance facilities, with access to every pool. The building cross section was established following energy saving concerns, i.e. reducing height to minimize the volume of air to be warmed up, and introducing daylight to significantly reduce fuel consumption.
Adaptation
Accessibility
Ergonomic
Landscape
Beauty
The building was designed from the section, conditioning it for energy saving considerations, so that the free heights have been reduced as much as possible to minimize the volume of air to be heated. It is thus possible to have less volume to air conditioning and have lower heat losses.
The pool uses the Saline Chlorination method, considering it the most sustainable system and less harmful to health, achieving 100% savings in sodium hypochlorite and 80% savings in maintenance work. Salt is a mild and natural antiseptic that does not stain bathing suits or damage hair, nor does it cause skin irritation or itchy eyes. The traditional smell and taste of chlorine is also eliminated, so in addition to being more sustainable as a system, the bath is much more comfortable and pleasant.
In relation to the structure of the swimming pools vessels, the problem of water leakage, recorded too often in other swimming pools, was taken into account and thus an innovative system was devised that has given us so far a magnificent result.
As a unique element, the building has a large-format lattice, a product of our team’s research into the combined use of prefabricated three-dimensional warped elements in fibreglass and aluminium curtain wall profiles. The geometry of the precast element itself stiffens the assembly piece by piece, and at the same time the design of the anchor to the aluminium profiles absorbs the stresses caused by the expansion.
The building fits into the ground, as the continuation of the existing rock, limiting its height to the adjacent plot on its top level. It is conceived as a hard, rough and dry box on the outside (very textured concrete walls) and soft, bright and moist on the inside (stoneware and ceramics). It is a simple building to understand by the user, with clear and short routes, and where from the arrival the user is located with respect to the bathroom area through a large window. The aqueous presence of the water sheets has been intended to extend to the rest of common spaces through the use of gresite, taking advantage of its visual and tactile qualities.
It is organized taking into account visual relationships, both inside the building and outside. From outside and from the park just above, it will have views of the summit and the sea, and the building will not hinder these views. From the access square you will have direct views of the sea, just like from the gym above.
From the pool you will have sifted sea views while swimming. These views are enhanced by the metal lattice, which fragments the vision of the sea, making the pool water seem like its extension. This attracts the sight of the swimmer, increasing their concentration.
The architectural experience has been raised from the beginning of the design process from the point of view of universal accessibility. The elementary character, both dry and wet, of the building is reflected in different senses, to allow an enjoyment of the building for all people, regardless of their physical or sensorial condition.
It has been intended from the design phase that the building responds to the needs of all users, whether they have disabilities or not, and being the same facilities for all. It has also sought to bring the architectural experience of the building to people who by their visual disability have always been deprived of it, and it has been done transferring visual architectural concepts to sensory experiences, especially tactile.
Among others, the following measures have been taken:
• The main access to the building from the street is by ramp. All users enter the building through this access. This access is covered; its floor is non-slip and has a double height railing (70 and 90 cm).
• The building is accessed through a square-viewpoint with a porch protected from rain and wind, which prevents the sudden thermal change that occurs when leaving the building with wet hair.
People with physical disabilities are particularly sensitive to these changes, and access has thus been organized.
• From the entrance hall to the building you have a direct view of the swimming pools through large windows; therefore the orientation inside the building is very simple. This is useful for PRM with motor disabilities because the routes are very short and clear, it is useful for people with poor vision because the light contrast orients them and is useful for people with cognitive disabilities, because the simplicity of the building makes them feel more comfortable.
• The reception desk has an accessible area on the side, very close to the access to the family changing room for PRM. The front of the counter is curved to avoid hitting the PRM and the colour of the counter is contrasted with the pavement and its countertop. In the turnstile battery, the adapted turnstile occupies the preferred and most comfortable position.
• The access to the building has been organized to maximize the experience and accessibility of people with physical disabilities.
The project has been carried out with constant meetings with technical representatives of the Functional Works Unit of the Administrative Service of Social Affairs and Sports, representatives of the City of Santa Ursula, including Mayor and Councillors; the Secretary of the Swimming Federation of Tenerife, and with the Health Inspector for swimming pools of the Government of the Canary Islands.
Their collaboration and experience have been of great support for the team, resulting in a consensus project by all parties.
The project has been promoted by the Sports Committee of the Tenerife Island Council, at the regional level, in conjunction with the Town Hall of Santa Ursula, municipality of the same island, at the local level.
Throughout the project, professional technicians attached to the Functional Works Unit of the Administrative Service of Social Affairs and Sports have offered their advice, and meetings have been held with political councillors of the sector, as well as with Town Hall representatives.
As an architecture project, different technical disciplines have participated in the design and implementation process of this project.
Architectural design, industrial engineering, construction technicians, Social sector workers and sports professionals have assisted establishing clear development objectives, and ensuring the achievement of the desired results.
The project has become a reference in terms of accessible buildings, going beyond simple functional adaptation by allowing its users to enjoy the architectural experience, regardless of their physical or psychological condition. Therefore, it has received different awards in the field of accessibility and inclusion:
• Work selected as a performance with exemplary accessibility. ONCE Foundation. Madrid 2012.
• Pre-Finalist Work. Spanish Architecture and Urbanism Biennial Xl Awards. April 2011.
The building has been designed entirely for the integration of people with reduced mobility, as well as achieving the greatest possible energy sustainability, reducing the volume of heated spaces to a minimum while using compositional strategies to minimize the perceptive impact of this reduction.
It is a sports architecture that has not only been created so that the accessibility of Persons with Reduced Mobility ceases to be something added to the original distribution, marginalizing them to specific entrances and facilities, but architectural concepts are also adapted to the different senses to make the architectural experience an aspect of inclusion. It is a building that expands the concept of accessibility beyond the mainstream practices in this field.
We work so that, buildings and public spaces are easily accessible, from the moment it´s being designed to the very end of its construction, understanding that accessibility must be irrevocably linked to the human-made constructed spaces, and that our environment must be, regardless of our disabilities, an environment for everyone, facilitating integration and acceptance.
To the extent that our environment allows the public use and enjoyment, people with disabilities will be able to make use of the amenities and spaces that they cannot access today. Their independency will be greater, increasing their vital opportunities. Once having overcome architectural barriers that impede mobility, sharing the city with disabled citizens will become more common and natural. Furthermore, learning how to coexist cooperatively with the subject of disability will be the best and most natural approach to de-stigmatize those disabled.
We understand that accessibility is an advantage for everyone, that everyone at some point in their lives is susceptible to some kind of disability and that, accessibility is the equivalence to comfort in the ambiance of mobility.
We also work to make accessibility unperceived, that all help is invisible or imperceptibly added, but forms and integrates naturally in the design of the building and/or the environment. In our projects we make accessibility criteria design criteria, so that ramps, rails, special pavements, colour contrasts, soft surfaces, etc… form part of the building from its initial design.
One of the most important transferable aspects of the project is its inclusive perspective on disability in architectural concept. The built space is for everyone, and the accessibility aspect is usually limited to functional building issues.
The project is a reminder that when designing a space, the project concept may not reach everyone. It is important to have the perspective of persons with disabilities in order to understand the importance that the concept permeates in every possible human sense.
One of the main features of the project is the enhancement of the social inclusion of people, regardless of their disabilities.
Accessibility as an inalienable right, as well as the normalization of disability in our society, is one of the main philosophical bases of our firm, which are reflected in the project, capable of creating a public space accessible by nature from its conception. This allows an universal public use and enjoyment of our environment, normalizing that people with disabilities share the same spaces, destigmatizing them.
This aligns with the global sustainable development goals of the 2030 Agenda for the Reduction of Inequalities.
