Henleaze Swimming Lake

THE TEAM: Sophie Jarzebowski, Matthew Spencer Small, Damon Hilliard, Andy Mitchel, Ester Corti, Lindsay Iles

Actor Network Diagram: illustrates the connections between user groups at Henleaze Swimming Lake.

The Executive Committee of Henleaze Swimming Club wanted to explore development options at Henleaze Lake, a beautiful and tranquil members-only location in the North West of Bristol. The project immediately presented some unique issues, the most contentious and predominating of which was that the majority of members were against any sort of development, afraid that any scale of change or adaptation would spoil the Lake's atmosphere.

Our approach to the project was one of careful suggestion. We focused on the poetic narrative of outdoor swimming, demonstrating our understanding of the cherished site atmosphere; using this in both the way we talked about the project and in the way we presented all illustrations, diagrams and drawings. In this way, we suggested a three stage development approach that explored subtle alterations to existing structures, new builds, and social interventions. This was designed to be sequentially phased, but could also work on a pick-and-choose basis.

Presenting ideas at the Henleaze Swimming Club AGM

UWE Master of Architecture Students: Sophie Jarzebowski, Matthew Spencer Small, Damon Hilliard, Andy Mitchel, Ester Corti, Lindsay Iles. 

Project length: October 2013 - November 2013.