Graduation projects

Olympic Swimming Pool

Principal author

Alexandra Trofin

Co-authors (team members)

coordonator: Cătălina Bocan

Project year

2016-2017

Location

Complexul Sportiv Dan Păltinișanu Timișoara

Learning institution

Facultatea de Arhitectură Timișoara

Project description

Timisoara's sports infrastructure is incomplete, lacking, among other things, an Olympic-sized pool that meets the standards imposed by certified organizations and can host national and international competitions in several water sports disciplines. The project aims to make the elegance, slimness and rigorousness visible – all those being inherent values in aquatic disciplines. Sites of ablution, illicit heavy petting, athleticism, surveillance, leisure, racism and death: pools bring people together stripped of status symbols, but in ways profoundly marked by wider social conditions. Swimming pools creates a complex series of sensory stimuli that affect all human senses; from the olfactory point of view, the smell of water with chlorine, a sort of "sensemark" of swimming pools is felt at the entrance. It is an odor that you suddenly associate with a taste - the taste of the water mouths that flood your lungs when you fail to breathe correctly, immediately correlated with possible memories. Then there is the smell and texture of the skin or hair after swim in the pool, all of which are so specific to the pool. From a visual point of view, the play of reflections in the water, the rhythm of tiles, markings that turn into landmarks, and space. And the auditory, it's about the noise of the crackling, the disturbed cries of the coaches and echoes, as well as the subdued silence under the water. All these perceptions are specific to this type of space and difficult to encounter in other types of architecture. Two main themes have generated the architectural solution: the theme of separate pools and the theme of the paths. Two spaces of different character have been generated - the Olympic pool offers a horizontal show and takes place in such a space as jumping in a vertical one, and equally wanting me not to design a landmark of the site but rather a space closer to the human ladder, easier to perceive, I chose to sink the jumping pool. We have created a space that is read vertically but offering the surprise element.

Text description of the author

Young architect, graduated from the Faculty of Architecture of Timisoara, Alexandra works within Vitamin Architects office where she explores different fields of architecture.

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