Public buildings
Pool in SF
Role
Enclosure Design
Year
2020
Location
San Francisco
Area
380,000 sq. ft.
Context
We were asked to design the enclosure of a public pool, on a L shaped lot in the Potrero district, surrounded by warehouses and garages. Using clay, we explored many different roof forms, as we deliberately wanted to avoid the large square boxes so prevalent in the neighborhood. In an ocean of generic and anonymous buildings and warehouses, the public pool must be indeed dignified and must display its values and distinct identity. The roof, connecting the sky and the earth is its distinct feature.
II.
A Floating Mass
We kept the roof structure visible as a testimony to the industrial heritage of the area, and we wanted it to be light, to let it float. As the pool faces a public park on one side and a road on the other, we open the top layers to let natural light flow through from the roof.
Envelope
Trusses
III.
Outside, A Steel Lattice in the Park
A building enclosure can extend outside its functional footprint, it does not need to be the same, it does not need to function as an enclosure, it can just be a phenomenological artefact, distinct from the building but recalling its conceptual idea, and in some way, changing the people's behaviour, attracting the people to the pool, people drawn into the building, in the same fashion a swimmer is drawn into the water.
