Architecture

Glass-bottomed "sky pool" will let swimmers freestyle above the street below

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The sky pool will meaure 25 m (82 ft) long, 5 m (16 ft) wide and 3 m (10 ft) deep and will span the two buildings at the 10th storey
The sky pool will meaure 25 m (82 ft) long, 5 m (16 ft) wide and 3 m (10 ft) deep and will span the two buildings at the 10th storey
The pool is made of 20-cm (7.8-in) thick glass
The Embassy Gardens development will be in the Nine Elms area of London, UK
The area will feature landscaped gardens and a riverfront walkway from Embassy Gardens to Battersea Park
The Embassy Gardens development will offer 2,600,000 sq ft (242,000 sq m) pf mixed use space
There will be nearly 2,000 new homes, a 100-bed hotel, offices, retail and leisure spaces, a grocery store and flexible work and community spaces
Ballymore says Embassy Gardens is inspired by the buildings of New York's Meatpacking District, with floor to ceiling windows and brick facades
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In what is claimed as a world first, a new development in London, UK, will feature a 35-m (115-ft) high suspended swimming pool that bridges two buildings. The so-called "sky pool" will be part of the Ballymore-developed Embassy Gardens, and will allow residents to don their swimwear and butterfly over to visit neighbors.

Embassy Gardens will be located near to the new US Embassy in the Nine Elms area of London, for which a crowdsourced competition for a new bridge over the River Thames is also ongoing. Chairman and CEO of Ballymore Group Sean Mulryan says that the pool stretches the possibilities of design.

"My vision for the Sky Pool stemmed from a desire to push the boundaries in the capability of construction and engineering, I wanted to do something that had never been done before," says Mulryan. "The sky pool’s transparent structure is the result of significant advancements in technologies over the last decade."

Indeed, the 20-cm (7.8-in) thick glass structure is all there is to the pool. Measuring 25 m (82 ft) long, 5 m (16 ft) wide and 3 m (10 ft) deep, it will span the two buildings at the 10th storey containing water at a depth of 1.2 m (3.9 ft) without any additional frame or support.

The pool is made of 20-cm (7.8-in) thick glass

The pool, designed by Arup Associates, Eckersley O’Callaghan and aquarium designers Reynolds, will be accompanied by a "sky deck" at the top of the two buildings. The deck will feature a spa, a bar and an orangery, as well as offering views of the surrounding areas that take in the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye.

Ballymore says Embassy Gardens is inspired by the buildings of New York's Meatpacking District, with floor-to-ceiling windows and brick façades. It will offer 2,600,000 sq ft (242,000 sq m) of mixed use space that will incorporate nearly 2,000 new homes, a 100-bed hotel, offices, retail and leisure spaces, a grocery store and flexible work and community spaces. Also planned are landscaped gardens and a riverfront walkway from Embassy Gardens to Battersea Park.

The buildings that the pool link are part of the second phase of the Embassy Gardens development and are expected to be made available to the market in September.

The video below provides an introduction to the Embassy Gardens project.

Source: Embassy Gardens, Ballymore

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5 comments
Bob Flint
Just the bottom slab would weigh about 3,906 metric tons, and since no framing, how are you planning to put that in big slab of glass in place assuming it can be created in the first place ? The crane that can lift that may not exist, and would not fit into that space.
How about building a glass factory, on the tenth floor, of a two block area ,and then remove the factory once the glass cools, then refurbish the factory into luxury condos...
William Bungay
"Just the bottom slab would weigh about 3,906 metric tons"
I make it 62.5 tonnes which happens to be the square root of your figure. Suggest you've made an error somewhere.
Chuck Anziulewicz
At first glance it looks pretty cool. Upon further consideration it seems rather silly.
ProfessorWhat
"Welcome to the Upper Echelon, Chauncey. We have a tradition around here: Moon-a-Mundane Mondays! HAWWHAAHAHAWWWWW!!!"
LarryBirt
Yup, 62500 Kg per: http://www.glass-ts.com/glass-weight-calculator Had to select 1mm thickness and double it