Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Public Natural Swimming Pools (PNSPs) are chemical-free bathing facilities that rely on biological filtration to maintain safe water quality. The sector's primary design standard, the FLL guidebook, comprehensively addresses the technical and ecological requirements for constructing and operating these facilities, yet contains no guidance on recreational design. Across Europe, all existing guidelines focus on health and safety parameters, leaving the spatial and experiential qualities that determine how visitors actually use these places entirely unaddressed. Knowledge of how to design recreationally successful PNSPs exists among practitioners but remains fragmented and individually held. This study set out to identify the spatial, ecological, and experiential attributes that shape recreational success in PNSPs, and to consolidate them into a communicative decision-support tool. The research employed a qualitative approach triangulated with a literature review, six semi-structured expert interviews with practitioners, researchers, and constructors, and spatial analysis of two European case studies: Bylderup Naturbad in Denmark and King's Cross Pond Club in London. Interview data were analysed through Thematic Analysis, and candidate themes were subjected to a promotion rule requiring evidence from all three data sources before recognition as a pattern. Eight patterns emerged: typological choice between pool and pond, catchment and bather load, zone differentiation by user typology, edges and sightlines, sensory perception, threshold and entry sequence, ecological storytelling, and seasonality. These patterns organise into four groups that reflect the sequence of design decisions practitioners described, from the foundational typological choice through spatial organisation and visitor experience to seasonal adaptation. The patterns were compiled into an illustrated pattern book intended to function alongside the FLL as a complement, not a replacement, ensuring that recreational questions are raised alongside biological and safety parameters during the design process. The study captures the supply side of PNSP design –designers, operators, and researchers – not the demand side. How visitors actuallyperceive the qualities described remains an open question. The pattern book has not beentested in practice, and whether the eight patterns function generatively when combinedrequires further investigation.