Gørlev swimming facility

The new swimming facility is integrated as a natural extension of the former sugar factory and its surroundings. The characteristic red brick of the surrounding buildings is echoed in the facades of the swimming facility, combined with red-painted metal cladding. These materials create a visual coherence that connects the building to the area and gives it a distinctive and recognisable identity.

The design of the swimming facility harmonises with its context by carefully considering scale and proportions. Towards the entrance, the building volume is kept low to create a welcoming and human scale, while it rises towards the larger existing buildings to ensure a natural transition and respect for the area’s architectural character.

The overall layout is designed in line with the functional requirements that characterise a modern swimming facility. The connections between dry and wet zones, as well as between the different pools, are carefully considered, making it easy for visitors to orient themselves. Circulation through the building is systematically organised to maintain a clear separation between clean and unclean zones.

The entrance is bright and welcoming, and the pools are located in close and natural relation to the changing facilities, allowing movement from dry to wet areas to take place intuitively and without crossing traffic flows. Clear sightlines across the pool areas are a high priority, ensuring that safety and security are naturally integrated into the experience for both guests and staff. The facility is arranged with a clear relationship between staff areas, lifeguard rooms and the foyer, providing optimal conditions for supervision and customer service.

To support inclusion and diversity, a range of changing facilities is provided, including family and individual  changing rooms, as well as individual shower cubicles within the standard women’s and men’s changing rooms. The swimming pool therefore accommodates many different user groups, such as school classes, families, recreational swimmers, swimming clubs and other organised activities.

The individual changing rooms are located adjacent to the zone between the 25-metre pool and the warm-water pool, allowing guests undergoing rehabilitation or those with physical or cognitive challenges easy access to the warm-water pool. This arrangement also enables families with young children to arrive together and then disperse between the different pools, while ensuring that the youngest children can be sheltered from the higher activity levels of the main pool.

The new swimming facility is a strong example of how contemporary architecture can be integrated into a culturally historic environment, bringing new life and activity to the area.