|
| Berlin's Floating Pool |
 Approaching Berlin, Germany's Spree River, trucked in sand gives way to a large wooden deck that leads out to a pool. Hammocks swimng on posts. Deck chairs are loosely arranged as are cushion-covered platforms and a king-sized bed. Traffic noise is almost inaudible. This cool oasis surrounds a pool floating on the river itself.
Called a Badeschiff, or bathing ship, this old barge has been converted into a public swimming pool floating on the Spree River in Berlin, Germany. While it seems incongruous to have a swimming pool floating on water, the Spree is too polluted to safely swim in.
The pool originally opened in 2004 as part of an art project by the Stadtkunstprojekte, the City Art Project Society, of Berlin. Local artist Susanne Lorenz envisioned it as a way to enliven city life along the neglected Spree.
 Converted from the hull of a vessel measuring 26 feet by 104 feet, the pool is now open to the public daily from 8 in the morning until midnight. Near the entrance, a large area covered with sand and a few folding chairs has a long bar and a covered pavilion where DJ's spin records for the swimmers.
The pool is filled with 105,668 gallons of fresh water, slightly chlorinated, and heated to 75 degrees. The pool is filled so that the water level is almost even with the pool's edge, only 28 inches above the surface of the river, to give swimmers the impression of swimming in the river.
If Germany is too far to travel for a floating pool expedition, the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy in New York City has it's own, the Floating Pool Lady. Much like the Badeschiff, the Floating Pool Lady is a converted barge. The Lady, however, is not stationary and roams freely to the pool-deprived Williamsburg and South Bronx areas.
To see previous Spotlights click here.
|
|
|
|
 "Click for larger image")
 "Click for larger image")