DUBRAVA SWIMMING POOL / Zagreb, Croatia / 2019
Dubrava Swimming Pool
Location: Zagreb, Croatia
Type: Competition / 1st prize
Author: Radionica arhitekture
Design team: Fani Frković, Antonio Jakubek, Tena Knežević, Marin Mišan, Jelena Prokop, Goran Rako, Ana Ranogajec Knežević, Josip Sabolić, Ivana Stanić
Designed: 2019
Area: 5.600 m2
Dubrava Swimming Pool building is located in rather chaotic city surroundings. The building site appears to be more like a randomly skipped unbuilt meadow than a planned building plot. A twelve story residential tower across the street to the west and a church with a big raised entrance podium to the east overlook the site and determine the concept of the future building.
The tower and the church (its entrance podium to be more precise) are the spaces we want to be sheltered from while in the pool. That's why we build a wall without openings to the east and to the west. South and north have a more friendly character and that's where the building opens up. A glazed entrance pavilion inviting the visitors in is in the south while the northern facade opens to the existing greenery.
We compensate for the lack of natural lighting and ventilation by inserting two atriums that divide the building into three pavilions.
The swimming pools are below the ground level because of the predetermined above ground built-up area. The only way to have both the locker rooms and a water surface at the same level was to place them both below ground.