Hong Kong Pool Complex Is Launched

How to design a large municipal pool on a trapezoidal/triangular piece of land on the harbor without blocking the view of the residential buildings behind it in a city as packed as Hong Kong? After all, the Chinese Special Administrative Region is known as the world’s “most vertical city.” The Kennedy Town Swimming Pool (堅尼地城游泳池) development by Terry Farrell and Partners took eight years to come to fruition, but the spaceship-type building opened to the public in February along the Victoria Harbour.

The complex replaces an earlier facility opened in 1974, and cost $671 million HK ($86 million U.S.).

The building was crafted of zinc to minimize glare and maintain a consistent color over the two-year period between construction phases of the entire project.

It is also the first pool in China to utilize a translucent insulated tensile membrane (Tensotherm) for its roof. The roof, contracted through Shanghai Taiyo Kogyo Corporation (STC), a Birdair sister company, features an 8-mm aerogel blanket, providing an R-value of 4.90 (U-value of 1.16).

— birdair.com, architectsjournal.co.uk, farrells