BATHS
Saltcoats Bathing Pond
Saltcoats, Scotland
Ongoing
The Scottish town of Saltcoats, west of Glasgow, attracted thousands of visitors in its heyday, many of them drawn to its complex of tidal swimming pools evolved out of the salt pans that gave the town its name. With the swimming pavilion demolished and the pools adapted in the 1980s, access to the water is now limited.
Answering a brief from the local swimming group, our light-touch design introduces a system of platforms and ramps so that the main pool can be used by swimmers, kayakers and paddleboarders, and demonstrates that it is possible to reconnect communities to the water without excessive cost.
The original tidal pools layout with the pavilion alongside the bathing pond. ©North Ayrshire Council
View of the pools today. The pavilion was taken down in the 1980s and the area behind it covered over for use as a carpark. ©Three Towns Explored
The official programme for the opening of the bathing pond in June 1933. ©North Ayrshire Council
Night swimming in the 1950s. ©North Ayrshire Council
Free to access changing cabins in Tenerife.
Sketches exploring various ways to provide safe access over the rocky edge.
Demonstration that access to the water need not be complicated. A laddered jetty in Denmark avoids the need for swimmers to climb over the rocks.