Big City-Life: Sky Pool opens in London's Embassy Gardens

London architecture project: The 25-meter-long “Sky Pool” in the urban district of Embassy Gardens connects two ten-story buildings

Sky Pool opens in London's Embassy Gardens
Source & Copyright by Embassy Gardens EcoWorld Ballymore

Author: Elena Geiger

  • After a year-long shutdown, London's Sky Pool will open in May
  • 14 of the 25 meters are made of transparent acrylic and are free-floating
  • The pool is part of the modern work-life district Embassy Gardens

Swimming and relaxing "with a view" is very popular. In doing so, the operators luxury hotels, Holiday flats and apartments like to come up with new ways to inspire their guests and attract attention. For example with exceptionally large pools or edgeless “infinity pools” that seem to disappear into infinity. And free-floating pools are also becoming more and more common.

Sky Pool as part of the Embassy Garden urban district

The new pool in the Embassy Gardens district in London is also free-floating, but it is a very special project. Because the sky pool connects two residential buildings around 35 meters high and is transparent, so that the swimmers have the feeling of moving directly over the streets of London. While they look at the Thames, London Eye and the Houses of Parliaments in the heated water, pedestrians can see them from the ground - like in an aquarium.

The urban Embassy Gardens in London's Nine Elms shows how Work-life fusion may look like in the future. Architecture and landscaping bring residents, artisanal retailers, and creatives together. Embassy Gardens is an entire neighborhood designed the way living and working in a city should be today. In addition to the spectacular pool, the focus is primarily on the green areas. The one kilometer long "Linear Park" and the quiet garden area of ​​"The Ravine" redefine the city park of the 21st century.

Source & Copyright by Embassy Gardens EcoWorld Ballymore

How did the Sky Pool idea come about?

The Embassy Gardens apartment complex is known for its luxurious furnishings. Among other things, the residents have access to a spacious roof terrace with dining area, an indoor pool, private cinema and Gym. An outdoor pool to cool off in summer was still missing, however, found the developer of the residential complex, Ballymore. Only the roofs came into question as a location, but there was not enough space here either. This gave rise to the idea of ​​simply using the space in between and connecting two residential buildings. In the new Sky Pool, the residents of the Embassy Gardens should be able to refresh themselves on hot days, but also enjoy the extraordinary view at night.

An architectural challenge

How do you let in with water pollution Float a filled pool 35 meters in the air - without risking it falling down at some point? In order to make the vision of the Sky Pool a reality, the developer got support from architects and structural engineers who developed the concept and carried out extensive tests.

Source & Copyright by Embassy Gardens EcoWorld Ballymore

A total of 14 meters of the Sky Pool are free-floating. It is not only gravity that becomes a challenge here, but also water pressure and wind. The architects ultimately decided on the following solution: Acrylic panels up to 20 centimeters thick were used for the central part of the pool, held in place by a steel frame. The acrylic box alone weighs 50 tons - plus 375 tons of water. So that the statics are not endangered by fluctuations to which buildings of this size are typically subject, the pool is not rigidly connected at both ends and therefore has a certain freedom of movement. The end pieces consist of stainless steel pools from which guests can climb stairs out of the sky pool. The filter systems are also installed here.

Use of the sky pool remains an exclusive pleasure

The Sky Pool was officially opened on May 19, 2021 after the Corona-related project had to be paused for almost a year. However, it is only available to residents of the Embassy Gardens. Most Londoners and tourists alike can only marvel at the Sky Pool from the ground.

You can find out more about Embassy Gardens here 

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