Kennedy Town Swimming Pool Featured in Martin Lever’s Artwork

Farrells’ Kennedy town swimming pool has been featured in British artist Martin Lever’s latest work.

Taking the aerial perspective, the leisure facility has been showcased along with the Kennedy Town landscape in strong contrast of colour. Martin uses bold strokes and shapes to abstract and record Hong Kong’s streets and landscape from a unique angle that is reflective of the Hong Kong lifestyle – where people spend most of their time in the buildings, above the ground.

The inclusion of the Swimming Pool in Martin’s Kennedy Town artwork highlights how it has already become an integral part of the community and a landmark within the district.

Likened to a futuristic spaceship by the South China Morning Post, the new Kennedy Town Swimming Pool (KTSP) was constructed in two phases. The first phase was opened to the public in May 2011 and comprises a 50-metre outdoor pool and a smaller leisure pool. The second phase, recently completed, comprises two indoor pools and a community garden at its tip.

Built on a derelict waterfront car park, KTSP, owes its distinctive shape to the triangular site. Inspired by a shell, the building addresses the experience of arrival to Kennedy Town from the east, serving as an icon of the community. Located east of the Belcher Bay Park, “Object in the Park” was envisaged, acting as the ‘head’ of an extended landscape.

The shape of the sweeping zinc roof responds to the building’s context: the orientation of the outdoor pool maximises the view of Victoria Harbour while shielding swimmers from the noise of the main bus and tram route to the east. Natural zinc’s self-healing properties and ability to return to its ultimate patina was appropriate for a building constructed in two phases with a six year gap.

Light weight, long spans, transparency, natural light and excellent performance against solar gain were key criteria in the selection of materials for window walls and the roof over the indoor pool. Laminated glass with a high performance PVB layer was chosen for window walls while insulated PTFE membrane was used for the roof light, flooding the indoor pool hall with natural light.