Mondego Swimming Pools

Descriptive Memory

Fundamental aspects relevant to the location:

Land formed by a flat typology with low vegetation and large trees and an old orange grove.

Existence of old passage routes for maintenance of the orange grove and possible irrigation of it. Proximity to the river and the green park. Land located at a lower level than the urban area of the city. Land that borders the city and the river.

Land separated from the green park by a water line from the slop, which joins the valley to the north and east.


General idea/concept of the intervention:

The idea was to create a relationship with the water from the beginning, keeping most of the existing green spot, that's why I chose the location parallel and facing the river and perpendicular to the existing ramp that gives access to the land, giving continuity only to the paths that make the crossing from the green park to the terrain.

The building was located in an area with little green spot, but at the same time establishing a relationship with the existing spot.

The idea was to create a building that looks light and at the same time partially appears on the ground, trying to have some highlight, that's why I chose a light material for the coating to highlight this highlight and some movement due to the incidence of light in the water.


Implantation:

My implantation was to promote a direct relationship with the river and with the vegetation, the building appears perpendicular to the ramp that gives access to Av. Urbano Duarte. that and lead inside the building through a small square that appears the entrance facing the river, which grabs the road access. Closed between the Parque Verde, and the plot further south, with the installation of the swimming pools.


Volumetry:

This is composed of two bodies separated by a patio. A larger body that houses the wet program and a smaller body that accommodates the dry program, with different altimetry, and with quite different volumes, so that it is diluted in the horizontality of the river.


Building scale:

The building seeks to relate to its surroundings, seeking to monetize the interior space, monetizing the areas and optimizing the spaces

It was decided to promote a building that does not take on too much importance in the landscape and is detached from the ground. For this purpose, a contained volumetry was proposed, and in which it is possible to differentiate the “dry” from the “wet” program without even having to enter the building. to feel it, through the elevation of the entrance quota and different heights.


Programmatic organization, circulations and their relationship with the general concept of the building:

This part was designed so that they are subsequent to the programmatic need, and so that the "dry" and "wet" courses are distinct, without there being a crossing between common users, athletes, monitors and referees between their different quotas .



Space concept:

The spatial concept is based on the structural concept, of generous free heights, of containment and relief relations, and of visual relations between distinct spaces, but without direct access.



Building System:

The structural concept is based on the premise that, in order to overcome very large spans, we opted for a mixed construction in concrete and a metallic structure with HEB and IPE profiles, which set the pace for the façades.

The structure is closed in alveolar polycarbonate, in order to give light to the building.


Language:

In terms of language, the intention is that the structure defines the spaces, in the volume built in reinforced concrete, and a volume assuming lightness in the larger volume, ending up being the structure the language.


Coimbra

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2011