Ferry converted into movable floating swimming pool to open in August

Floating swimming pools seem to be becoming a thing. Last year we looked at the +Pool concept to install just this sort of thing on one of New York's rivers - a concept that engineering consultancy Arup has since greenlit from a feasibility point of view, at least. And then there's realities:united's scheme for the world's longest swimming pool, called Flussbad, in the River Spree in Berlin. But now the 120-meter (394-feet) long Badboot Lido has seemingly leapfrogged the competition, opening for business this August in Antwerp, Belgium. Because the Badboot is adapted from a 1960s ferry, it can be moved around the city as needed.

Designed by SCULP(IT)'s Pieter Peerlings and Silvia Mertens, the Badboot professes to be "a full-fledged leisure platform." Though the main feature is clearly the 40-meter (131-foot) long pool itself (which, come winter, will be put to more seasonal use as an ice rink), the facility will include two events venues, a restaurant, cocktail bar (in the ferry's converted bridge), not to mention the various exterior decks and terraces. In total, the facility can accommodate 600 people and it's claimed this makes it one of the largest outdoor swimming centers in the world. SCULP(IT) has aimed to make the Badboot's design as environmentally friendly as possible. The facility will have an onboard reed bed water purification system. Beneath the pool is a buffering hold which fills with water from the pool during the evening, supposedly preventing evaporation of water as well as insulating it to keep it warm, reducing the facility's energy consumption. And the Badboot uses LED lighting throughout, further reducing energy consumption. The Badboot is being built by shipbuilders HSS. Construction commenced at the beginning of February and will end, it's hoped, by early August - an ambitious project for such a small window.