In June of 2013, in Switzerland, Chris Romer-Lee happened upon the Zürichsee Kreisel, a wooden ring that floats on the River Limmat, an offshoot of Lake Zurich, and forms a round, freshwater swimming pool. An architect and co-founder of Studio Octopi, Romer-Lee was at that time considering entering an open-call competition to design a development on the River Thames. As Romer-Lee took in the modest yet elegant wooden structure, the phrase “cradled in nature” came to mind. Why shouldn’t natural water be easy to access? Romer-Lee’s entry to the competition, presented a few months later, was a floating lido in central London.
His fascination didn’t end there. As an alternative to chlorine-laden, bacteria-nourishing indoor pools, Romer-Lee has since restored the Grange Lido, a 165-foot seawater pool in Cumbria; the Tarlair Swimming Pool, an abandoned lido on the coast of Scotland; and, most recently, in another Scottish coastal town, the Saltcoats Bathing Pond, a formerly derelict bathing station that hails from the late 1880s.
