New Paracelsus Spa and Pools in Salzburg Winning Proposal design by HMGB Architects
Architects: HMGB Architects
Location: Salzburg, Austria
Project Team: Heike Matcha and Günter Barczik with Farzad Akhavan, Antje Heymann, Milad Golmohammadi
Landscape Architecture: Christiane Schwarz, Berlin
Structural Engineering: Bollinger and Grohmann, Frankfurt
HVAC: HL Technik, Munich and IBHW, Cottbus
Acoustics: Akustik Moll, Berlin
Quantity Surveyor: Prof. Christina Maas, Cologne/Aachen
Status: 1st Prize in International Open 2-Stage Competition 2012
Size: 14,000 m2
Budget: 37 mio €
Estimated Date to go on Site: 2014
Located at the northern edge of the Mirabellgarten Park, the project will replace the existing Paracelsus Spa and Pool from the 1950s to include a spa with 7 different pools (6 internal and 1 external pool), sauna and therapy spaces, as well as offices for various city departments. The design defines the northwestern park edge through the building’s clear volumetric mass and is divided into a southern part including all pools and a northern part including therapy and office spaces. More images and architects’ description after the break.
In order to make the most of the south-facing orientation towards the sun, the park and views over the city, all interior pools are assembled in a completely glazed vertical pool landscape that faces the park southwards. Visitors feel as if they were taking baths inside the tree canopies. All pools are connected into a continuous, forking and re-connecting vertical landscape. Some of the pools have glazed openings in the bottom and sides to allow for more views in- and outside. A slide and diving boards are integrated into this landscape. The whole pool landscape including pools, slide and circulation elements is cantilevered from a collective back wall.
This back wall is partly opaque, partly transparent and translucent to allow for views from the sauna, therapy rooms and offices in the northern part through the pool landscape into the park. A wide passage connects the southern park with the urban context northwards. Inside the park-facing part of the passage, the main public entrance and an outdoor café are situated.
Source: HMGB Architectsm i l i m e t d e s i g n – W h e r e t h e c o n v e r g e n c e o f u n i q u e c r e a t i v e s