London Swimming Pool Doubles as 'Skybridge'
London's combo skypool and skybridge, in acrylic, spans 25 m to connect two buildings.
Computer-generated image by EcoWorld Ballymore
Contractors lift the acrylic pool into place.
Image courtesy EcoWorld Ballymore
The 55,000-kg acrylic pool spans around 14 m between the blocks in Embassy Gardens.
Image courtesy EcoWorld Ballymore
Beginning May 19, swimming will be the quickest way to go from the tenth floor of a new residential building in London to its neighbor. An acrylic skypool, with transparent sides and a floor, now spans around 14 meters between the two buildings in EcoWorld Ballymore’s Embassy Gardens, so named because of its proximity to U.S. diplomatic offices.
The 25-m-long pool has 5.5-m-long stainless steel ends atop both buildings that are linked by a 55,000-kilogram acrylic trough. With 35.6-centimeter-thick walls, the container was made in one piece by Reynolds Polymer Technology Inc. at its plant in Grand Junction, Colo.
Sliding and rotating bearings at either end accommodate differential movement between the towers, according to the London-based structural designer Eckersley O’Callaghan.
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