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Floating Pool & Spa Project

A Dutch barge reimagined into a space for wellbeing

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Location: Canary Wharf, London
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Type/Sector: Leisure, Re-use
Tagged: Engineered Timber

dRMM were commissioned to design a floating spa with a 25 metre swimming pool, to be moored in West India Dock, east London. A 62 metre Dutch barge was used to house all the amenities of a modern spa with a unique vantage point of the Canary Wharf towers.

01 The design of wellbeing

The concept was inspired by the benefits of sauna combined with cold-water bathing for wellbeing, and swimming’s ability to relieve anxiety and promote health.

As you board the spa, a large external pool sits below a partial sun terrace. A reception, café and a sauna room along with hot and cold tubs complete the entrance deck. On the lower level, there are treatment rooms, flexible meeting and yoga spaces, changing facilities and back of house areas. A floating garden attached to the barge provides a place for reflection amidst the busy surroundings.

Floating Pool & Spa Project
Floating Pool & Spa Project
02 Reclaiming space

In support of the wellness and sustainability ambitions of the project, timber is used for internal divisions and finishes.

The engine room of the former cargo vessel will be retained to allow for future flexibility and relocation options.

The design concept provokes questions about the relationship between nature and the urban environment – the permanence of buildings and new uses for old infrastructure.

Floating Pool & Spa Project
Floating Pool & Spa Project
The floating pool and spa project is conceptually a new glass bottle in an old steel ship. It is all about the health and wellbeing of body and mind. Our design approach shows that recycling can not only be environmentally, financially and socially sustainable, but also beautiful and useful.
Alex de Rijke

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