Public Bath / Müntinga + Puy Architekten

Architects: Müntinga + Puy Architekten
Location: Arolsen, Germany
Architects In Charge: Arno Puy, Gerhard Müntinga
Area: 410.0 sqm
Project Year: 2015
Photographs: Constantin Meyer

Landscape Architects: Schulz Landschaftsarchitekten
Engineers: Ingenieurbüro Thomas Böhle
Design Team: Jürgen Schimmelpfeng, Johannes Müntinga

From the architect. Sand, open space and water – that is the sight of the new public beach at a small lake in Arolsen in central Germany. In one gesture, landscape design and building create a new place for leisure.

The steep lakeshore is widened at the new beach into an inviting bay. A promenade follows this gesture in a sweeping curve.

The building with changing rooms and a café is embedded in the slope on the other side of the promenade in order to orient its front entirely towards the beach. Thus, visitors and passers-by always have a good view of the bay.

Here, sand, beach grass and wooden paths remind of the seacoast, while a mighty oak tree gives away the actual location.

The warm colours of the corten steel façade blend in the wooded surroundings. Natural light falls through roof lights into the changing rooms giving them a bright and friendly atmosphere.