Copenhagen Harbour Bath in Copenhagen, Denmark by PLOT = BIG + JDS

The Harbour Bath project is an instrumental in the evolution of an industrial port and traffic junction to being the cultural and social centre of the city. The project stretches the side by side park over the water by integrating the practical needs and requirements for accessibility, safety and programmatic flexibility.

Harbour Bath serves an urban harbour landscape with dry-docks, piers, boat ramps, cliffs, playgrounds and pontoons. With a terraced landscape, it completes the transition from land to water, making it possible for the citizens of Copenhagen to go for a swim in the middle of the city.

The Harbour Bath is free of charge, but for security reasons the lifeguards have to be able to control the amount of visitors. With the given water area, an equivalent swimming bath would be able to accommodate up to 600 people. The previous harbour bath allowed for only half of that amount. By increasing the land areas, but maintaining the water area within the security limit, we can extend the capacity to 600 by allowing people to chill in the sun while resting from the aquatic activities.

Architects: PLOT = BIG + JDS
Partner in Charge: Bjarke Ingels Project Leader: Finn Nørkjær
Project Architect: Jakob Møller
Contributors: Christian Finderup, Henning Stüben, Ingrid Serritslev, Marc Jay
Collaborator: JDS, CC DESIGN
Constructed Area: 2,500 sqm
Budget: US $787,000
Photographs: BIG, Casper Dalhoff, Esben Bruun, Hanne Fuglbjerg, JDS