PROJECT DETAILS

Manfred Törmer: Public Swimming Pool Ingolstadt, 1971

  • Ingolstadt, Germany, Show on map
  • #PUB #Western Europe
  • Hidden behind the red brick walls of Ingolstadt's fortress is the city's public outdoor swimming pool. On the casemates, a gastronomy wing was installed in the 1970s which includes a brutalist pavilion with a tent roof. The pentagonal exposed concrete structure pushes out from the gastronomy wing and can be reached from the swimming pools via open stairs made of exposed aggregate concrete. Large window fronts with high gables provide good views. Inside the pavilion, the imprints of the wooden formwork have been deliberately left in place, emphasizing the from the window shapes resulting vault.

  • Heritage protected since 2013. 

    After about 40 years of little investment in the maintainance of the building, damage had developed on the exterior concrete surfaces of the structure: traces of weathering, spallings, and cracks. Therefore, the pavilion was decided to be demolished in 2012. Protesting citizens and critical articles in the local press achieved that not only the demolition was discarded, but the building together with its outdoor stairs was listed as an architectural monument. A renovation followed, which included repairs to the concrete damage, but also rebuilt parts of the catering building and expanded it to meet new standards. Architecturally, the pavilion remained dominant, but the windowpanes have been removed except for a glass parapet (last updated on June 18, 2021).