The UK’s first natural public swimming pool will use plants, not chemicals, to stay clean

[brooklynite]

Inhabit:

Adventurous Londoners will soon be able to take a dip in the chemical-free King’s Cross swimming pool, a man-made freshwater pond filtered and kept clear through natural processes. Designed by Rotterdam Studio Ooze architects and artist Marjetica Potrč, the “Of Soil and Water: King’s Cross Pond Club” project was commissioned as part of the public art program RELAY and the 27-hectare King’s Cross redevelopment. The 40-meter-long bathing pond can accommodate over 100 bathers and explores the relationship between nature and the urban environment.

The UK’s first natural public swimming pool will use plants, not chemicals, to stay clean | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building Currently under construction, the natural swimming pool is located in the heart of the King’s Cross redevelopment project within the new Lewis Cubitt Park. The pond is built two meters above ground level and measures 10 meters (32 feet) wide by 40 meters (131 feet) long. Motivated by a desire to introduce people to a new type of urban experience, the designers made the pool and its surroundings look as natural as possible to reinforce a strong juxtaposition between wild nature and the structured urban environment.

“The project is a small-scale enclaved environment; a living laboratory to test balance and to question a self-sustaining system including one nature cycle – water, land and the human body,” says Efa Pfannes, founder of Ooze Architects. “Actors (visitors to the project) are part of the process. Visitors enter a living laboratory where they are aware of their relationship with nature, and about consequences of their interaction with nature and take responsibilities, they thus become actors.”

Users will also be educated about the pond’s ever-changing landscape and how the pool operates within a small-scale, self-sustaining ecosystem. Wetland plants will be used to clean the water and provide habitat for fauna. The number of visitors on any given day will be restricted to allow the pond to regenerate. The King’s Cross natural pool is expected to open this May.

[MineralMan]

1. We have over 10,000 of those in Minnesota.

Well over 10,000. They're called lakes and ponds. Folks swim in them all the time. Many have public beaches. Lots of plants, fish, snapping turtles, crayfish and snails in them. Natural, they are. Imagine that - swimming in a natural place. Who'd have thought of that?

[brooklynite]

2. How many in the center of town?

[MineralMan]

3. Hmm...In St. Paul, a half a dozen.

There's one three blocks from my house. The kids in the neighborhood swim there all the time, or fish, or push each other off the dock into the water. All of the lakes in St. Paul are surrounded by park land. We also have the Mississippi River flowing right through the center of the city. Too dangerous to swim in that, though...fast, strong currents. Beaver Lake, Lake Phalen, Como Lake and a few others are within the city limits. All have beaches.

Minneapolis has a bunch of lakes, too, within the city. Also the Mississippi River. Both cities also have public swimming pools.

[MineralMan]

4. Here's a link to a list of lake swimming beaches

in the Twin Cities. There's one nearby, pretty much wherever you live in the metro area.

http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/recreation/swimming/tc_beaches.pdf

Here's the one at Phalen Lake in St. Paul:

[Blue_Tires]

5. I imagine a lot of litter and cig butts will end up in there, sadly

and what about critters? If this natural pool was where I live, 50,000 Canada Geese would take up permanent residence in about a week...