Badboot arose from the city’s need to provide more amenities and offer another outdoor public swimming pool. Sculp(IT) came up with the concept for the floating swimming pool built from a reclaimed ferry boat, proposed it to the city and was awarded the project. Working with V-Zit bvba, the organization that will launch Badboot jointly with the City of Antwerp and the HSS shipyard in the Netherlands, Sculp(IT) began building the floating platform in February. The first 60 meters of the pool are now complete and by August the facility will be installed in the Port of Antwerp ready for swimming.
The floating swimming pool features an Olympic-size swimming pool, a children’s pool, lounge areas, a restaurant/bar and additional event space. Visitors to the pool can enjoy the amenities for 4 euros a person. The eco-friendly facility also features a reedbed water purification system to clean the water from the port, LED lighting and the reuse of an old ferry boat. To maintain the water’s warm temperature overnight, the pool water will be drained into a buffering hold below the pool, which will also reduce evaporation. Badboot has a contract with the city for 10 years, at which point it could be moved or remain. During the winters, the pool will be frozen into an ice rink for skating and curling activities.
“The Badboot is a perfect complement to the existing urban outdoor pools in Antwerp,” thinks Maarten Dieryck of the City of Antwerp. “Having no more than two outdoor swimming pools in the city, we have a dire shortage of opportunities to enjoy water sports in the open air. This project will provide the axis of the development of Antwerp Docklands. That’s why we believe this is a brilliant project.”
Via Bustler
Images ©Badboot
