Coastal Architecture for Bathing: A Study and Cataloguing of Ocean Pools from the 19th Century to the Present Day

Abstract

The purpose behind this investigation is the study, profiling and listing of oceanic swimming pools designed to create leisure activities for swimmers that insert themselves along the coastline and bases its performance in the exchange of waters with the tide. Unlike other previous studies, that focus on specific geographic areas, we unite architecture from every corner of the world, ensuring the broadest possible scope to detect global typologies from the analysis of solutions. This is a qualitative investigation that intends on purchasing said architectures through the establishment and analysis of some common variables. For this we use the synthetic-analysis method consisting in the characterization of the oceanic swimming pools from its historic and geographical contextualization to the defining parameters of its design and the degree of intervention used to modify the landscape. The selection of study cases and their drawings under common parameters allows to establish comparative relationships and standardize a method of cartographic analysis of our own. The knowledge of the architectural evolution, the formalization of their designs and the way they are implanted in the area, define a specific relationship between architecture and the sea whose study may result useful in the reinvention of the water fronts. It deems relevant to further look into strategic diversity described here, keeping in mind the new seaside paradigms that derive from the current context of climate change and the rising sea level forecast.