Morris Enzmann

No longer fit for use, and a hopeless waste of energy: the Hallenbad Oerlikon has to go. But is indoor swimming — and the amount of energy this costs — still justifiable in the wake of the climate crisis, even in the most energy-efficient buildings? What if we start by reconsidering the thermal standards and levels of comfort set for swimming indoors? Would that in turn allow us to maintain and renovate existing swimming pools? This master thesis proposes a series of architectural adaptations and additions to the Hallenbad Oerlikon that rethink the comfort and culture of swimming indoors. A spatial scenario alternates between warm and cold spaces and pools. Special attention is given to internal circulation around newly designed warming up zones with a steam tower as a new emblematic silhouet in the existing roofscape. With this proposal, the master thesis puts forward an architecture that generates a new bodily experience of indoor swimming, while making a strong case to save the Hallenbad Oerlikon from demolition.