Saskia Tideman

The Medlock Restorative Pools and Water Treatment Facility.

The project’s ambition is to improve simultaneously human and environmental health. As a response to the river Medlock’s industrial overexploitation, the building cleanses water that is then collected in pools. These set the scene for all forms of exercise, catering to leisurely and competitive training alike. Through subterranean massing and the use of water as a connecting link between ‘nature’ and ‘man made’, the boundary delineating interior and exterior space dissolves. Landscape, river and edifice interweave to achieve symbiosis through both form and function. The building surpasses its role of infrastructure by becoming a gathering space that celebrates water as a collective good and fosters wellbeing through the promotion of activity.