Sports Swimming Pool and Spa, Kecskemét

Architect: László Mikó
Text: Zsolt Gunther
Photos: János Szentiváni

The spas built in Hungary are on the way to slowly form an archetype of their own: the visual overload of the buildings and pools forced into quasi-organic forms, overpowering details and exorbitant masses of architectural gags to make people forget the experience of bathing now seem to be compulsory standards. The result is cheap and poor aesthetics, ephemeral relevance and bathing units too expensive to operate. Our society is mature enough to reinterpret the relationship between experience and water. A fine example of the revision of the sports swimming pool and spa complex actually integrated two different and seemingly controversial types of buildings beneath one and the same roof. The whole building is actually a single structure into which building parts have been inserted – much like pieces of furniture – to articulate space into units of various use. An importent component is the series of V-pillars made of glued timber that reappears as a leitmotif all over the house which together with the glass facade and the system of girders behind it conjure the backside of the grandstand into a public building. Monotonous exterior design is finely counteracted by the large hangar bay divided into lanes and wave-like appearance. The complex builds itself from the outside towards the inside so as to produce precise functional systems, well-balanced spatial details at every point of the metaphor, the enlarged image of a wave. Kecskemét has been enriched with a new lasting architectural signature to the immense enjoyment of waterlovers.

Architects: László Mikó, Bálint Fazakas, Péter Kürtösi –Szántó & Mikó Építészek Kft.
Structure: Gergely Kádár
HVAC: Gyula Takács, István Ágoston
Electrical engineering: János Sápi
Garden: Krisztina Wallner
General design: CÉH Zrt.
Main contractor: Mahíd 2000 Zrt., Megasped Kft.
Client: CIB Lizing Zrt – Hírös Sport Kft