Light and Water: Reflect on These 8 Serene Indoor Pools

Architects: Want to have your project featured? Showcase your work through Architizer and sign up for our inspirational newsletters.

With the heat of summer quickly approaching, one can’t help but think of diving into the deep end of a beautiful pool. While designs of outdoor pools focus on recreation and activities, indoor pools engender a new typology pertaining to calmness and relaxation. When designing pools in enclosed spaces, architects have the ability to control the way a body of water interacts with a variety of building elements.

The following indoor pools show a delicate and precise juxtaposition of materiality and water that is further enlivened by the use of both natural and artificial light. The walls and screens that delineate these pools create intimate spaces in which strategically placed openings filter in natural light. Unaltered by outdoor forces like wind, the calm water of these indoor pools create a fourth dimension that exude serenity and create spaces for rest and reflection.

Pool and Spa Area for a Hotel in Majorca by Estudio A2arquitectos, Balearic Islands, Spain

This pool channels the Mediterranean light and is designed to maintain the site-specific idyllic bond with nature. Different sizes of small square windows are strung across the walls and the ceiling creating a mosaic-like reflection onto the still water.

Roccolo’s Swimming Pool by act romegialli, Italy

The pool in this private pavilion is built on different ground levels in order to capture light through large windows that create a deep sense of connection with the outdoor landscape. The indoor pool area is based on a sequence of simple geometric volumes in wood or cement.

Concrete Swimming Pool by SKP Architecture, Ansières-sur-France, France

A sequence of punctuated vegetated outdoor spaces connect the space to the outside nature while a system of skylights pierce the roof, giving way to a variety of ways natural light reflects on the water. The exterior walls are poured concrete with wooden planks.

Jln Angin Laut by HYLA Architects, Singapore

In this private home, a swimming pool and patio are surrounded by lush greenery that is shaded overhead but admitting light and air from narrow side openings. By manipulating solid and void spaces, the architect integrates the indoor space harmoniously with nature.

New Swimming Center by CBA Camillo Botticini Architect, Mompiano, Italy

Deep cuts across the building bring light inside the indoor pool spaces, creating precise visual relationships between the different volumetric sections of the whole architecture. The large façade windows allow natural elements to reflect dynamic light and shadows onto the water.

Swimming Pool / Terrace, Addition to Historic Building by I/O architects, Sofia, Bulgaria

The stone masonry of the historic building create a dramatic indoor pool environment. The translucent surface of the ceiling glows with water reflections in the dark as light and silhouettes ripple between structures of metal and stone.

Swimming Pool in Bagneux by Dominique Coulon & Associés, Bagneux, France

This unconventional indoor pool is all about creating soft ambiances and fluid architecture through manipulation of natural and artificial light and curving walls. Architectural features such as openings, ceiling heights and curvilinear walls respond to the different depths of disparate pools that are connected harmoniously.

MENCEY HOTEL SPA by ca+a architects | Corona, Amaral + Asociados, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain

During the daytime, this indoor pool is flooded with natural sunlight through its glass enclosure. In the dark, lights strung across the concrete ceiling and the walls create a warm glow within the small space.

Architects: Want to have your project featured? Showcase your work through Architizer and sign up for our inspirational newsletters.