Swimming over the edge

Hayri Atak Architectural Design Studio has devised a concept for a boutique hotel to be built into the rock platform of Norway’s famed Preikestolen cliff that offers a special kind of adrenalin kick: The glass pool provides swimmers with a truly intense experience of the landscape. At a height of 600 metres, the pool will rise above the Lysefjord and give guests the opportunity to experience the rock in a new perspective. In Olang/Valdaora some 60 km north of Bolzano in Northern Italy visitors can already dive in and defy gravity: The Alpin Panorama Hotel Hubertus is home to a sky pool that 25 meters long and hovers 12 meters above the ground. The architectural practice of noa – network of architecture came up with the design for the pool. Alongside the glass front, which gives swimmers the feeling of diving right into the Val Pusteria valley, the window embedded in the floor of the pool offers quite a thrill. The pool is heated in the winter, when it offers the added attraction of an exclusive view of the Dolomites covered in snow.

Those who prefer to go swimming above urban environments will soon be able to do their lengths in Europe’s largest overhanging swimming pool, currently being built in Spanish Murcia by Clavel Arquitectos. The pool will form part of the “ODISEO” Casino and is a full 42 meters long, jutting out 20 meters above the building on each side. A window in the floor of the pool enables guests to gaze down into the depths. While anyone with their head above water can enjoy a glorious view of the university city. Meanwhile in London it will be possible to swim from one building to the next by the end of the year: The Sky Pool is planned at a height of 35 meters between two towers of the luxurious residential and office building “Embassy Gardens”. Instead of a glass front or windows in the floor, Hal Currey and Arup Associates have opted here for a pool made entirely of acrylic. “This will make swimmers feels almost as though they are flying”, says Brian Eckersley of Eckersley O'Callaghan, the engineers overseeing the project. For passers-by on the ground, the pool will offer views that are just as spectacular: Thanks to the transparent basin, the swimming pool will visually connect the buildings like a bridge made of water.