Stuttgart: First Modular & Dismantlable Indoor Swimming Pool

(eap) Fast, sustainable, and dismantlable – that’s the promise of the innovative design approach for a mobile indoor swimming pool in modular timber construction by 4a Architekten in Stuttgart, which has won over the state capital’s building authority. Europe’s first completely demountable indoor swimming pool is currently being built in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen as a temporary solution during the demolition and reconstruction of the aging indoor swimming pool there. The contract for the project was awarded to POOL out of the BOX GmbH, which is realizing the mobile indoor swimming pool based on a design by the Stuttgart-based architectural firm. Other project partners include Kannewischer Ingenieure, the Swiss timber construction company Blumer Lehmann, and other specialists from the swimming pool industry, including Zeller Bäderbau and Wassertechnik Wertheim.

© POOL out of the BOX – 4a Architekten In line with the “cradle-to-cradle” principle (C2C for short), the modular timber construction and almost complete prefabrication in the factory make it possible to erect, dismantle, move and rebuild the pool at different locations with virtually no loss. “For us as architects specializing in pool construction, it is an exciting task to transfer the design, functional, and technical requirements of a pool facility to a modular construction concept. We see great opportunities in integrating topics such as prefabrication and circular economy into pool facility construction,” explains Ernst Ulrich Tillmanns, co-managing director at 4a Architekten. The project thus meets key requirements of the EU Green Deal and EU taxonomy.

The ground floor of the two-story building will house the entrance to the pool, the pool technology, and the staff rooms. The upper floor will accommodate the pool hall with changing rooms and sanitary facilities. The pool hall will be equipped with a 25-meter stainless steel pool offering five lanes and a partially adjustable floor. Completion of the replacement pool, which will be a fully-fledged indoor pool with a complete life cycle, is scheduled for mid-2026. The temporary indoor pool will then move to Stuttgart-Möhringen before finally finding its permanent home in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim. ■