The new municipal swimming pool in Voltri, Genoa, is located near the right bank of the Leira stream and is nestled between the promenade on the beach and the 19th-century building behind it, dominated by the Villa Brignole Sale Duchessa di Galliera Park.

Its particular location necessarily requires the project to be considered in broader terms, not just the building itself, but rather an opportunity for wider regeneration, integrated into the urban landscape with the aim of providing the Voltri district with a stable social centre in the area, as well as a significant opportunity to increase the sports and leisure facilities of the entire city.

The existing facility, built in 1954, was no longer able to meet current plant, structural and sporting regulations.

The project for the swimming pool in Voltri therefore involved the demolition and reconstruction of the facility, proposing a new volume characterised by a large, single roof, partly cantilevered and sloping from east to west, under which there is space for the sports pool and the stands for the public.

Underneath the roof, shifted towards the east, there is a lower volume that houses the main entrance and contains the changing rooms and toilets, whose roof becomes a terrace from which to admire the horizon.

The new facility is designed to host national swimming and water polo competitions, thanks in part to the large 33-metre pool, which can be divided and modulated into two functional areas with the aid of a mobile pontoon.

An abstract composition of volumes of different heights, characterised by natural materials such as wood, plaster and stone, are enveloped by large metal surfaces made of blue expanded metal mesh, which characterise the image of the new swimming facility in ideal continuity with the marine landscape.

From above, left: longitudinal section and sea-facing elevation; below: plan of the pool area.