The World's Coolest Public Swimming Pool Will Be in Copenhagen's Harbor

Courtesy of KENGO KUMA & ASSOCIATES, INC.

No matter where you are in Denmark, you’re never more than 30 miles from the sea.

Seaside life is an important part of Danish culture — and something that architects will hope revitalize a disused artificial island in Copenhagen’s harbor.

Japanese architecture firm Kengo Kuma & Associates recently won a competition to build Copenhagen’s new Waterfront Culture Center, paying homage to the Danish seaside culture.

Visitors to the center will be able to swim in indoor/outdoor pools that terrace down directly to the sea while elevated glass pools will allow visitors to swim through brick pyramids. The mock-ups are a fantastic, almost futuristic look into the elegant potential for public swimming pools. The building will also include spaces for sports and wellness activities.

Courtesy of KENGO KUMA & ASSOCIATES, INC.

Courtesy of KENGO KUMA & ASSOCIATES, INC.

“Our focus in design is to create an experience, and not just a standalone object, in the form of the landscape, art and architecture that are unified and defined by the water,” the project's lead architect Yuki Ikeguchi, said in a statement. “Our design attempts to soften and dissolve the edge and blur the sense of boundary of the land.”

Courtesy of KENGO KUMA & ASSOCIATES, INC.

Courtesy of KENGO KUMA & ASSOCIATES, INC.

The architects have not released an expected date of completion for the project.

The project is part of a redevelopment to turn an disused artificial island into a center of culture as Copenhagen expands and revitalizes its waterfront. Christiansholm (known locally as Paper Island) used to be the home of the Danish press. Today, it is a public center where visitors wander through former industrial warehouses that now house street food stalls, event space and an experimental science and technology museum.