The new water attraction of the beach owes its existence to the uncontrollable presence of a larger water.
Aware of the treasure that bathes the city, the City Council of Vilagarcía de Arousa, in its Sustainable Urban Development Strategy (EDUSI 2020), determined that the legacy of Neptune would be to create and tame a small portion of water for the enjoyment of the population.

And if the sea is so valuable beyond what it produces, if its presence is so necessary, if its vision saves us, how can we interpose some presence between it and the city?
The proposal of the pool will then have to be delicate, silent, epithelial… almost imperceptible.

Once on the beach we feel the immensity of a living water embracing the geography over the gaze of a motionless city.

Nothing should disturb the silence of the sandy beach.
The ochre-colored sandy beach, dotted by the pine needles, by the rusty ochre of the promenade – ancient, dry, wonderful colors!
Any construction on the sand between the promenade and the sea will be able to destabilize the balance of the sublime view that Neptune brings to Vilagarcía.

Well, we have two premises, the proposal must be silent and epithelial.

And what shape should the pool be?

We are on the beach, on the sand.
On one side, a line of promenade; on the other, the curved line, in a subtle diagonal, that the eyes are unable to intuit.
The user’s perception is of a sequence of parallel strips: water, beach, bicycle path, promenade and house closures.

Facts!
No subjectivity, no fantasy, no motive beyond evidence shall disturb this order.
No random desire shall be able to violate the placidity of the sand.
Nothing will be able to affect the powerful empty perspective that is established between the sea and the promenade, that designs the border between city and beach.
Any element placed perpendicularly to this perspective will be the negation of what the landscape demands: clarity and integrity of the Concha-Compostela Beach.
There can be no interruption in the continuity of the coastal horizon.
The resolution has to be decisive and orderly; to accompany the walk of man always parallel to the edge of the sea, the beach and the promenade.

Architecture cannot replace the spontaneity, unpredictability and will of the users.
Color, form and movement will be provided by the souls who will enjoy the enclosure.
Are people so sad that architecture must provide all the stimuli, animation and dynamics of the city?
Or should we propose scenarios without an instruction manual?

The pool is the product of a rational act.
It will have to be built, maintained and covered, all under sustainability criteria.
As defined by the City Council, it will have to be the product of an intelligent, integrating, sustainable attitude.
In short, it will have to be emblematic.

How do you solve an equation with multiple unknowns on such a tight budget?

The pool complex will be a longitudinal marker that does not interrupt the landscape.
The design of the enclosure is free of vertical constructions and will accompany the walker, the sand, and the sea.

How is it designed?
What is a pool, content, or container?

The pool occupies the sandy area.
The sandy area is subjected to the sea.
And the sea, what is it?

Water.

So is a pool, water, like the title of a book by Andrea Camilleri, just that, The Shape of Water.
Just as the sea, the rivers, the lakes are the result of the flow of water over the topography, so will be the pool with no border between itself and the earth (the sand), a volume of water cut into the sand devoid of topography.

Constructively it is not possible!
So how is it done?

The container should be imperceptible.
It shall remain submerged in the water.
The shape of the water designed by a void separating the different tanks, spaces and materials.
A narrow and shady feature delicately defines the boundary of each tank: a recreation pool for adults, a whirlpool area and a splash pool for children.

What if the tank were not a tank?
What if the pool imitated the sea?
What if we entered the water as we enter the sea, through a gentle slope?
What if the bottom were the docile topography of a lake…?

This will be the pavement of the pools.
It slowly descends and ascends until it becomes a very thin sheet of water as it meets the fixed concrete esplanade at each end.

We understand that most people who like the beach prefer the sand for sunbathing.
However, we also understand that this is not an ineffable fact and that, therefore, sand should not be a discomfort in the body of those who prefer to remain free of it.
In the end, the pool is an artificiality that does not coexist well with the presence of sand on the bottom.

We propose a mobile esplanade in metallic structure covered with a material based on the most sophisticated holistic knowledge, mixing tradition, innovation, sustainability, resistance and comfort: CORKING.
The corking is a compound applied as a mortar, based on 100% natural cork, free of toxins, microplastics or carcinogenic agents, very comfortable and that does not heat up under the sun, as is the case with rubber-based materials designed for recreational flooring.
In addition, these movable platforms have the function of covering the pool during the winter months, at night, protecting the water and the structure from vandalism.

With a system of opening in opposite directions, north and south, the decks/explanades, at the end of the day are collected in the center and close the tanks, transforming into a box – an urban platform with multiple possibilities of use for citizens who like to frequent or stay on the beach under the moonlight.

The structure consists of a tubular perimeter and a sequence of tubular strips closed together by corrugated sheet metal profiles and finely coated with 6 cm of cork agglomerate.
All around the perimeter a steel plate supports the wheels and the rack that slide inside the longitudinal groove where the water drainage takes place.

With an extra meter of opening movement, in the opposite direction to that of the tanks, the structure uncovers the access to each of the technical rooms of the pools.
These rooms house the compensation tanks, filter system, chemical addition system and electric pumps, as well as the motor that drives the covers themselves.

On the west side of the pools, a walkway of dry and clean feet accompanies the entire length of the intervention.
The colored concrete walkway (ochre color, like the sand) is bordered by two showers that allow users to wash at the entrance and exit of the pools.

On the opposite side, on the rising side, a continuous footbath reduces the presence of sand inside the pools and refreshes the senses of the most water shy.

A little further upstream, with their backs to the promenade, waiting to sit and contemplate the sea and to control the agitation in the pools, a concrete bench running parallel to them provides a resting place for people and underlines the sense of the proposal.

Between the bench and the promenade, a row of Pinus Pinea trees provides natural shading for the users. Its perspective trunks create a curtain and protect the users of the pool from a total and indiscreet view by the users of the promenade. However, they do not impede the view to the horizon to passing walkers or people living in the houses in front of the sea.” Text: Jose Carlos Nunes de Oliveira.