Nordbad swimming pool in Darmstadt

Location Darmstadt, Germany

Client / operator Sportamt Darmstadt

Architects Sacker Architekten DE – 79115 Freiburg www.sacker.de

Author Sacker Architekten

Acoustic ceiling elements (wood) Lignotrend Produktions GmbH DE – 79809 Weilheim - Bannholz www.lignotrend.com

Photos Martin Granacher

Official opening September 2021

PARALLEL USE

NORDBAD SWIMMING POOL IN DARMSTADT

Modernisation of Darmstadt‘s old Nordbad built in 1971 was not economically viable. To replace it, the new Nordbad, consisting of one structure each for the indoor and outdoor pools, is being built during ongoing facility use. Connecting the two of them, a canopy creates a shared entrance situation. The spatial proximity keeps walking distances short and allows the changing area to be used by visitors to the outdoor pool as well. The existing outdoor pools are being integrated into a bathing deck adjoining the large sunbathing lawn with its mature trees.

On entering the spacious and light-flooded foyer, pool users have a view of the bathing hall and the facility‘s outdoor areas. Darmstadt‘s Nordbad is put to frequent use by swimming clubs and organised disabled users, so the foyer adjoins not only the changing rooms and sanitary facilities, but also the club rooms, including a fitness room.

The Nordbad has pools for very different user groups. These are a 50-m competition pool with eight lanes, a 25-m swimmer‘s pool with six lanes and integrated diving tower, a teaching pool with shallow entry steps, an exercise pool and a paddling pool. The individual bathing areas are separated by glazing and can thus be used simultaneously without mutual disturbance. All pools are assigned attractive relaxation areas. The all-round glazing of the bathing hall enjoys a panoramic view of the sunbathing lawn and the outdoor pools.

Materiality and design The unifying element of the Nordbad is its wooden roof construction linking the indoor and outdoor pools. Clad on the outside with pre-greyed wooden slats, it seems to hover above the glass façade. The uniform materiality enhances the unity of the two bathing areas and harmoniously integrates the structures into the landscape space of Bürgerpark.

Load-bearing cross laminated timber box elements from Lignotrend form the roof surface above the interior pools: They are simply laid on top of the glulam trusses and provide the acoustically effective interior ceiling surface made of elegant, knot-free silver fir strips already in the shell and without additional interior finishing. By effectively compensating for sound-reflecting materials such as glass and ceramic floor coverings, they ensure pleasant acoustics in the indoor swimming pool. The Ligno Akustik light real wood acoustic panels additionally attached to the upper wall surfaces form an exciting material contrast to the exposed concrete and round off the aesthetic room atmosphere.

The bathing hall is zoned by means of different room heights. Above the exercise and paddling pool area, the ceiling is lowered, which firstly brings the scale of this part of the building down to child size and secondly enables additional lighting of the adjacent hall areas via skylights. The cubature structured in this way makes the various parts of the pool visible from the outside. The wooden acoustic panels create a warm atmosphere in the interior and form an exciting material contrast to the exposed concrete surfaces. The Nordbad is heated by district heating and is being given a photovoltaic system and solar collector modules. As the first part to be completed, the indoor pool opened in summer 2021. The outdoor pool building is currently under construction, with its opening scheduled for late summer 2022.