LIDOS LIDO LIFE
In his regular column, Jonathan Knott looks at our enduring love for the lido Photo © Martin Nixon/ Friends of Jubilee Pool
Shine on: lidos, like the Jubilee Pool in Penzance, were designed with the sun in mind
It’s in the spring, when the sun comes out after a dark, cold winter, that we’re most likely to appreciate the
inspirational power of lidos. Watching the fi rst rays of the season fall onto the clear blue water, painting patterns on its surface and suffusing the limbs of swimmers with long- awaited warmth, no sceptic could deny their charm. For many people, the lido is a refuge: a place to forget everyday concerns, where we can feel more creative and free. This idea has been there since their earliest days: a report on the opening of north London’s Parliament Hill Lido, in 1938, said that the wall surrounding the pool "suggests that inside is to be found the warmth and shelter that inhabit the kitchen gardens of country estates". Within the lido, it said, "all is colour". The water was "as blue as the penguin pond at the zoo", and the "airiness and brightness" of the cafe was also singled out for praise. Like other buildings in the 1930s, lidos were designed with a
keen awareness of enhanced wellbeing through exposure to sunlight and fresh air. Modernist architecture, with its clean lines, simplifi ed structures, and focus on a building’s function, suited the pools perfectly. Even the robust, red-brick exteriors of London lidos, such as Parliament Hill and Brockwell Park, which opened up
HERE COMES THE SUN Continuing on our theme, this book by Ken Worpole shows how a belief in the health- giving properties of sunlight informed building design in the early 20th century. Health centres made using glass bricks, buildings with rooftop gardens and high- rise fl ats with their own balconies were all examples of this – but lidos were arguably where modern concepts of architecture and leisure really came together. Aside from the mental benefi ts, a rising current of ideas held that sunlight could provide some of the essential nutrients that would combat tuberculosis and rickets in the population. A local councillor is quoted as saying in 1901: “We can, if we will, let light and air into our towns; we can, if we will, make the most and not the least of the sunshine.” This theme foreshadows a 21st century emphasis on the open spaces for creating ‘liveable’ urban environments. Here Comes The Sun by Ken Worpole is published by Reaktion Books and available from
Amazon.co.uk priced £18.70
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