Germany already has a pre-existing social infrastructure landscape condition for interaction with water and development of communities. The German Freibad is a collective term for a variety of outdoor swimming pool conditions. These conditions include the Seebad (lake pool), Naturbad (nature pool), Spreebad (river pool) and the built artificial Freibad. In an interview with the German magazine DW, Matthias Oloew, spokesperson for Berlin’s public pools and author of ‘Schwimmbäder, 200 Jahre Architekturgeschichte des öffentlichen Bades’ (‘Swimming pools, 200 years of the Architectural history of public pools’) outlines how the German Freibad is more than a swimming pool, but rather a social environment where visitors spend the entire day rather than only for a quick swim. Oloew states that “outdoor public pools in Germany typically have a lawn for sunbathing and lounge areas, a cafe, a restaurant, or something similar. Playground equipment can also be found there to allow people to stay all day or several hours without getting bored” (Stewert, 2019). These Freibadë are examples of the social infrastructure described by Klinenberg, a space in which interaction is encouraged and a sense of community is created.
The social performance of water manifested through the inclusion of the freibad landscape in my proposal. I wanted to create a building which afforded all-day occupation of the landscape, and through sustainable heating methods such as geothermal and solar heat transfer, create an environment for year-round swimming for the benefit of individual and community well-being.
The social performance of water manifested through the inclusion of the freibad landscape in my proposal. I wanted to create a building which afforded all-day occupation of the landscape, and through sustainable heating methods such as geothermal and solar heat transfer, create an environment for year-round swimming for the benefit of individual and community well-being.