in partnership with IAKS international projects
Kennedy Town Swimming Pool
The new Kennedy Town Swimming Pool in Hong Kong owes its distinctive shape to the streets and historical tram line that define the triangular site.
Island Line Kennedy Town Station as well as an important civic building in an old neighbourhood, which started in 2008. The original site chosen for Kennedy Town Station was rejected after it was discovered that construction would affect a number of 120- year-old Banyan trees growing on historic stone walls. To protect the trees, the underground station was moved to the site of the former Kennedy Town Swimming Pool. A new swimming pool had to open before
INSPIRED by a shell, the building addresses the experience of arrival to Kennedy Town by tram or road from the east. With its low-lying form, the building by the designers at Farrells respect the panoramic views that nearby residents enjoyed prior to the development and draws inspiration from its proximity to the harbour. The matte finished cladding systems were specifically chosen to reduce disruptive reflections. The re-positioning of Kennedy Town
Swimming Pool (KTSP) was a critical enabling project for the construction of MTRC West
the existing one could be demolished. The chosen site was a car park at the entrance of Kennedy Town District which boasted an uninterrupted sea view but had lain derelict since the land was reclaimed in the 1990s. To draw residents to this neglected corner of an otherwise vibrant neighbourhood, the site demanded a memorable icon. Both projects, while located at opposite
ends of the district, exemplify Farrells’ approach with tailored responses towards the nature of the building, connectivity, sense of arrival and identity in this small residential community. KTSP acts as the head of the extended Belcher Bay Park landscape with punched openings for water pools and a
shaded community garden at the tip. The unique low-lying saucer-like form of KTSP not only serves as an extension to the park, but also creates a dominant formal mediation between its horizontality with the dense chopstick vertical towers in the back.
Two-phase construction In order to realise the underground station, KTSP had to be constructed in two phases over a course of six years. The first phase of the project consisted of the outdoor pools and all of the main functional, support and plant rooms necessary to operate the venue. It was opened to the public on May 2010, while the Phase 2 site remained a works area for the removal of debris from tunneling works for the station. Phase 2 consisted of the indoor pools and associated plant rooms, outdoor landscaped resting area and decanting of accommodations. Practical completion was achieved on October 2016 and the whole of KTSP re-opened for the outdoor swimming season in April 2017. The shape of the sweeping zinc roof
responds to the building’s context: the orientation of the outdoor pool maximises the
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