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Entwurf • Design Peter Moor Architekten, CH-Zürich
Grundriss Erdgeschoss • Ground floor plan
Schnitt • Section
Bauherr • Client Baudepartement, CH-Appenzell
Standort • Location Sitterstraße 15, CH-Appenzell
Nutzfläche • Floor space 3200 m 2
Fotos • Photos Roger Frei, CH-Zürich
Mehr Infos auf Seite • More info on page 142
INDOOR POOL
IN APPENZELL
In architecture, wood is increasingly being used for
ecological reasons. This is also the case with the pub-
lic indoor swimming pool in Appenzell, Switzerland,
designed by Peter Moor Architekten. The renewable
raw material, its sensual qualities and the pleasantly
calm, elegant atmosphere that prevails in all areas pro-
mise a very special kind of bathing experience.
H uge wooden twin girders with integrated light bands span the
25-metre swimming pool in Appenzell. Wood dominates not only
the façade, but also the interior. And that is – although not a novelty
for a public swimming pool – still (!) a rarity. From an atmospheric
point of view, however, wood plays its trump cards especially in the
context of water and wellness. In Appenzell, you can feel this as soon
as you enter the building, a new replacement construction that was
put into operation just under one and a half years ago. The entran-
ce – a two-storey space with a reception counter and art hanging on
the wall – looks more like a hotel lobby than an entrance to a public
swimming pool. Immediately, there is an extraordinary sense of com-
fort that succeeds in decelerating and relaxing. The exposed wood,
spruce and fir from the region, is the main protagonist in the design
by the Zurich office of Peter Moor Architekten and plays an important
role not only visually but also olfactorily and haptically: instead of
smooth, cold tiles and an acrid smell of chlorine, structured wooden
surfaces impregnated with oil wax and a pleasant woody smell domi-
nate here. The two-storey wooden building is arranged like a windmill
around a concrete core, on the surface of which the wood grain of the
plank formwork appears as a fine relief, thus drawing a line to the
wooden supporting structure. In addition to the entrance area, the
lifeguard’s office, the changing rooms, showers and toilets, the ground
floor also includes a competitive swimmer’s pool, a multipurpose
pool with a height-adjustable lifting floor (depth: 0-180 centimetres)
and a children’s paddling pool. The outdoor area also offers a terrace
with hot tub and a Kneipp pool in the renaturalized Küechlimoosbach
stream. The wellness area extends over the entire upper floor and
offers massage rooms, experience showers, a cold-water pool, heated
benches with foot baths, steam bath, bio sauna, Finnish sauna, rela-
xation room and a roof terrace. The icing on the cake for relaxation
here are sound installations by Roswitha Gobbo – they refer to Appen-
zell nature and thus also to wood as a material.
AIT 11.2023 • 117