IOC/IAKS AWARD 2003
Kategorie C Silber
Agrippabad pool in Cologne The jury assessed the Agrippabad pool in the following words: "An existing municipal indoor pool has been given a totally new appearance through conversion and extension and now offers visitors far more activities than before particularly worthy of mention is the new sauna suite as well as the fitness area overlooking the pool. The outcome is a lively, bright and cheerful hall interior ..." The design strategy had to confine itself essentially to the restructuring of the existing buildings. The car park in Agrippastrasse was replaced by a twostorey car park. The extension of the site towards Grosser Griechenmarkt permitted the realization of the goals of transforming a purely indoor pool into a combined all-year indoor and outdoor garden pool plus enlarging the indoor pool in order to incorporate leisure features. This also ensured at the same time that the pool as a functional unit is now situated on the ground floor level. On the thus vacated 1st floor, the "Agrippa-Fit" fitness centre was installed as an independent unit. The sauna was retained on the 2nd floor, but with a totally new layout and extended to include the "Dom-Blick-Terrasse" on the 3rd floor with a view of the cathedral. For reasons of monument preservation, the building was to be altered as little as possible and remain identifiable to visitors with its accustomed appearance. To match the roof frame and columns of the large swimming hall, the roof structure was given a new formal language that merged the extension building and the existing hall into a single formal unit, thus enhancing the visual impact of the pool building inside and outside. The changes otherwise made in the building interior were highly functionally executed to provide the required rooms. The fire protection strategy making use of a sprinkler system permits almost unlimited design freedom and facilitates high transparency and unencumbered views between the various functional areas. The building fabric enclosing the large indoor pool remained as reinforced concrete skeletons. The two-storey car park is a cast-in-place concrete structure with pile 58
foundations like the services cellar in the indoor pool extension. The load-bearing system of the large indoor pool had to be replaced and redeveloped with the extension building and take account of tectonic movement. For the indoor pool and its extension, two separate supporting systems of steel were employed. The roof shells and the walls of angled glazing are suspended elements. The decision in favour of this project has been vindicated by the high level of user acceptance. Pool use by eight swimming clubs with 57,000 users per year and by schools with 43,000 users is possible without clashes and at the same time as use by the general public (about 300,000 users per year). The diving pool with its 1-10 m diving boards is also available for underwater swimming, underwater rugby, swimming for certificates etc. Synergies have been achieved between the pool, fitness studio and sauna. This means that there are scarcely any limits to competitive activities and leisure use. The jury also commented as follows: "The spacious and large-area links between inside and outside through the attractive angled south-facing glass wall make the pool bright and inviting. In spite of the limited size of the site in an area of mixed development, a small but nevertheless welcoming and versatile outdoor pool landscape has been created. As a result of the skilled and lavish conversion of an 'old sports facility', the City of Cologne has gained a welcoming, versatile and attractive pool."
Schnitt/Section 1 Schwimmhalle/Swimming hall, 2 Springerbecken/Diving pool, 3 Vario-Wellenbecken/Vario wave pool, 4 Speicherbehì±lter/Storage tank, 5 Api-Ball zur Wellenerzeugung/ API ball for wave generation, 6 Erlebnisbecken/Fun pool, 7 4-Jahreszeiten-(Erlebnis-)becken/Four seasons (fun) pool, 8 Lehrschwimmhalle/Swimming instruction hall, 9 Eingangshalle/Foyer, 10 Technik/Technical, 11 Erdgeschoss: Umkleidetrakt/Ground floor changing wing, 12 1. Obergeschoss: Fitnessebene/1st floor fitness level, 13 2. Obergeschoss: Saunaebene/2nd floor sauna level, 14 Saunagarten, Dachterrasse/Sauna garden, roof terrace, 15 Parkdeck zweigeschossig/Two-storey car park