Highly Transpicuous
Pools are hitting new heights, literally. In recent weeks, two record-breaking pools opened in Dubai and London, quickly becoming media sensations, both for their daring designs and decidedly elevated locations.
By Eric Herman
Transpicuous (tran·spic·u·ous | tran(t)s-ˈpi-kyə-wəs): clearly seen through or understood, transparently conspicuous.
Dubai’s latest architectural wonder, the Address Beach Resort, has broken two records, announced Guinness World Records, one of which is a massive vanishing-edge pool perched almost 300 meters high.
According to Guinness, the property joins a number of existing record holders in Dubai. The roster of ultra-superlative architectural achievement includes the Burj Khalifa standing at 828 meters and the world’s largest frame building measuring 150.23 meters.
The property now boasts the record for the highest outdoor infinity (vanishing edge) pool in a building. The pool is located on the resort’s rooftop at a dizzying height of 293.90 meters (964 feet, two inches) installed in the 77th level.
The pool’s surface area measures approximately 560 square meters, with a volume of 500 cubic meters (just over 132,000 gallons). It’s a massive pool in a truly extraordinary setting, offering panoramic views of many of Dubai’s most amazing features including Bluewater’s Island, Palm Jumeirah, the World Islands, Dubai’s Dubai Marina Coastline, the Burj Al Arab and far beyond across the shimmering waters of Arabian Gulf Sea.
The dramatic structure also breaks the record for the “highest occupiable skybridge floor,” an architectural achievement, which bridges two separate properties that comprise a mind-bending giant vertical rectangle, giving the appearance of a gargantuan portal.
Address Beach Resort is one-half part of a twin tower project alongside the Address Beach Residences, which are conjoined at their base from the 1st level up to the 13th and then linked again at the top by the record-setting skybridge from the 63rd level to the 77th.
The skybridge is home to ultra-high-end luxury apartments, while the roof hosts not only the pool, but expansive viewing decks and a gourmet Chinese restaurant. Developed by Al Ain Holding, the property includes 217 hotel rooms and suites, 443 serviced apartments, and 478 residential apartments.
CLEAR AS DAY
Not nearly as high, but no less adventurous, is a new, entirely transparent, pool in London, U.K. The recently opened pool suspended 115 feet in the air between two towers, is made entirely of a single piece of acrylic – also an architectural first.
Called the “Sky Pool,” the vessel is part of the Embassy Gardens, a mixed-use community developed by EcoWorld Ballymore. The property is adjacent to the U.S. Embassy and not far from the Thames River. The pool measures 82 feet long, 16 feet wide, and 10 feet deep. Swimmers will have views of the Houses of Parliament and London Eye, while underwater, and can in turn be seen from the street below.
Access to the pool is restricted to residents of the property, which includes approximately 2,000 apartment homes.
Reynolds Polymer Technology, Inc. in partnership with the property developers, engineered and manufactured the pool structure at its facility in Grand Junction, Colo. The structure consists of a single solid, 14-inch-thick piece of acrylic, made from the totally transparent polymer.
“Manufacturing and engineering of the Sky Pool has pushed the envelope of what can be done in large acrylic structures,” says Paul O. Gardner, vice president of engineering, quality and safety at Reynolds. “The team in Grand Junction has overcome incredibly tight tolerances and requirements to arrive at a finished project that is unexplainable without seeing it. Words can’t adequately describe the finished product; it must be witnessed.”
The company reports that transporting the 122,000-pound pool was also something to behold, requiring police escorts, road closures, and the removal traffic of lights and street signs.
Ballymore’s CEO Sean Mulryan said: “It was an idea that really stood out and that we thought was quite special. It’s only because of advances in technology that we’re able to do this. Swimming in the pool makes you feel like you’re floating in air.”
Image attribution: Photo courtesy of Reynolds Polymer Technology.