The Großfeldsiedlung public swimming pool, designed by Illiz architektur, features a new, three-story, freestanding building connected to the existing complex by two cantilevered bridges. A staircase ascends to the first floor, and the two bridges link the new lobby to the existing building. A double-height glazed facade extends along one of its facades, allowing natural light to flood the circulation areas throughout the building and its spaces, such as waiting areas and pool rooms.
The 6-meter-high pool is constructed with a wooden structure. The walkway alongside the pool uses composite tiles in neutral white and light gray tones combined with light wood. The building features a cantilevered wooden slab, a series of skylights, and a steel structure at the front that extends to the roof and envelops the new training room.
Großfeldsiedlung public swimming pool by Illiz Architektur. Photograph by Hertha Hurnaus.
Project description by Illiz architektur
As part of Vienna’s “Bäderstrategie 2030,” the two identical swimming facilities in Simmering and Großfeldsiedlung — originally constructed in the early 1980s — are being partially refurbished and expanded to include new indoor training pools designed for school and club sports. The goal is to create a prototype addition that upgrades both sites in terms of operational efficiency, accessibility, and spatial quality, while minimizing land use and implementing sustainable construction methods and technologies.
The Vienna and Zurich-based architecture office illiz architektur designed a freestanding, three-storey hall that occupies a compact footprint on the site of a former parking area. The new structure is connected to the existing complex via two cantilevered bridges. Between old and new, a green passage emerges, intuitively guiding visitors toward the indoor and outdoor pool areas and leading them beneath the bridges to the new main entrance. Here, the facade line descends to ground level and expands into a double-height glass front, behind which a bright, three-storey foyer forms the central spatial node for circulation throughout the building.
Even from a distance, a spiralling staircase is visible behind the glazed facade, leading up to the pool level on the first floor. From there, the two bridges link the new, fully accessible foyer with the cashiers’ hall of the existing building, creating a coherent circulation system that separates visitor flows for improved operational management. As users move through the structure, new spatial connections and perspectives unfold — foyers, waiting areas, bridges, and pool halls are all visually and functionally interwoven.
The 6-meter-high swimming hall is structured by a timber-frame structure and enclosed by a floor-to-ceiling glass facade. In front of it, the poolside walkway curves into a tiled bench, supported by slender timber columns. Carefully composed tile patterns in neutral white and light grey tones, combined with light wood surfaces, create a bright and athletic atmosphere. As part of the refurbishment, the existing hall also received a new, raised roof. By relocating the load-bearing structure, the multipurpose pool now benefits from increased ceiling height and soft, glare-free daylight entering through translucent side openings.
The design of the new addition references the façade articulation and distinctive roofline of the existing facility. A large, projecting timber roof slab and a series of skylights define the building’s silhouette. A horizontal ribbon — alternating between glass and timber cladding — wraps around the structure, articulating the internal programme of hall, changing rooms, and foyer. In front, a steel framework stretches up toward the roof, branching out horizontally and supporting a layer of greenery that gently veils the new training hall in a light, living screen.
