A Derelict Public Pool Makes a Splash as a Family’s New Home

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Project Details: 

Location: Whanganui, New Zealand

Architect: Patchwork Architecture / @patchworkarchitecture

Footprint: 1,350 square feet

Builder: Sam McCullum 

Structural Engineer: BPL Group Whanganui

Photographer: Simon Wilson / @simon.c.wilson

From the Architect: "The Gonville Pool House project is an adaptive reuse of a derelict public swimming pool in Whanganui, New Zealand. The pool was originally built in 1912 with changing rooms and a new kiosk added in the 1970s, and was operational as a public pool until 2006 when it was closed permanently for economic reasons.

"The pool complex, in danger of demolition, was purchased by Ross Mitchell-Anyon in 2009. Ross had plans to save the pool and convert the various buildings into studios and accommodation, which unfortunately never eventuated.

"In 2021, Frank Stark and Emma Bugden purchased the pool (and adjacent hall and fire station) from Ross, and approached Ross's son Ben (of Patchwork Architecture) to design them a family home on the site. Frank and Emma provided Patchwork with a simple brief—to create a warm three bedroom home with lots of space for books and art.

"Patchwork's design response was to partly demolish the structural unsound 1970s changing sheds and insert a new rectangular building in their place. The simple plan is divided into 'lanes' by triangulated roof trusses, which loosely reference pool flags and the existing kiosk. The house is almost entirely solid to the access way behind it, and almost entirely glazed to the existing poolside. The smaller pool has been retained as a pool for family use, while the larger pool has been converted into a sunken patio and garden.

"Materially the project is simple and robust, with concrete blocks continuing the language of the existing changing sheds, colored aluminum panels and glass to the facade, polycarbonate cladding at high level, and ply linings to the interior."