Zprávy památkové péče 2019, 79(2):190-204 | DOI: 10.56112/zpp.2019.2.10

Indoor swimming pools and swimming pools in the second half of the 20th century and their heritage potential

Martin Strakoš

NPÚ, ÚOP v Ostravě

The study deals with the development of these types of buildings and the possibilities of their heritage protection. In modern times, a number of new types of sports buildings were created, including indoor swimming pools, often completed by an outdoor swimming pool. Indoor swimming pools are associated with older types of spa buildings intended for health care and hygiene. Their focus as part of the development of swimming and recreation manifested itself in a specific architectural design with an emphasis on large pool halls and related operations. In the introduction, the text deals with the genesis of the mentioned type of structures, having stabilized as swimming pools of two sizes, namely 25 and 50 meters with different numbers of swimming lanes. This is followed by an analysis of selected buildings in the Czech Republic. More demanding examples of 50-meter swimming pools from the discussed period include the indoor swimming pool and swimming pool in Prague-Podolí, the indoor swimming pool in České Budějovice, and lesser known indoor swimming pools in Brno, Liberec, Ostrava, and Chomutov. Smaller buildings were built according to typified documentation in district towns or as part of school complexes. Many buildings have not been preserved in their original state, however, as they have been rebuilt or reconstructed in recent decades and sometimes humanized in the style of water amusement parks, often irrespective of the original architectural design and contemporary architectural expression; the result is usually an architecturally average structure. Since 2001, the "Winter Spa" in Zlín, open to the public since 1950, has been under protection. In 2018, the swimming pool in České Budějovice was declared a cultural heritage site, and a proposal for the protection of the Prague swimming complex in Prague-Podolí is currently under discussion. Other still unprotected buildings demonstrate that the emphasis on the architectural aspect of the buildings brought a number of inventive solutions that were typical for the concept of swimming pool halls, vestibules, or urban integration into larger complexes and landscapes. Moreover, many buildings are completed by works of art that represent contemporary artistic development. A more systematic approach to the care of these buildings, both in terms of heritage and in terms of contemporary architectural culture, corresponds to the need for a comprehensive approach to the preservation and development of public space and to preserving or accentuating the qualities inherent in these public buildings.

Keywords: covered pools, covered swimming pools, swimming pools, architecture of the second half of the 20th century, late modernist architecture of sports buildings, late international style, Brussels style, brutalism, technicism, postmodernism, state heritage care, heritage protection of architecture of the second half of the 20th century

Published: June 1, 2019  Show citation