Badeschiff

The project transforms a former industrial barge into a floating public swimming pool on Berlin’s River Spree. Reinterpreting the city’s historic river baths, the project reconnects people with the water through a simple yet powerful intervention that combines adaptive reuse, public space, and urban regeneration.

CLIENT

Kulturarena Veranstaltungs GmbH

CATEGORY

Wellness & Leisure

LOCATION

Berlin, Germany

YEAR

2004

[ OVERVIEW ]

The Badeschiff project reimagines an abandoned industrial barge as a floating urban oasis on the River Spree. Inspired by historic public baths, the intervention transforms a former industrial cargo barge into a heated freshwater pool surrounded by wooden platforms that act as artificial beaches and social gathering spaces. Illuminated with blue and green lighting, the installation reconnects citizens with the river while revitalizing a neglected industrial landscape. Flexible, movable, and community-oriented, the Badeschiff becomes a contemporary social bridge between the two shores, encouraging public interaction and celebrating the multicultural character of Berlin.

Description

Located on the River Spree in Berlin, Badeschiff reinterprets the historic tradition of the city’s floating public baths, which disappeared during the 20th century due to industrial pollution and the destruction caused by World War II. Conceived as a contemporary urban intervention, the project transforms the river from a former physical and symbolic boundary into a space for social interaction and public life.

Rather than creating a conventional bridge, the project establishes a social connection across the river through the insertion of a floating swimming pool. Positioned directly within the Spree, the intervention blurs the limits between city and landscape, restoring public access to the water and reinforcing the relationship between citizens and the river.

The project is based on the adaptive reuse of an industrial coal barge traditionally used for river transport. The vessel was transformed into a floating pool measuring 32.5 metres in length, 8.2 metres in width and over 2 metres in depth. Filled with 400,000 litres of filtered freshwater maintained at 24°C, the pool incorporates a carefully engineered buoyancy system that allows it to rise above the river surface while visually aligning with the surrounding water level, creating the sensation of swimming directly within the Spree.

Material contrast plays a central role in the spatial experience. Illuminated from within by blue and green lighting, the pool generates a luminous presence that stands out against the dark waters of the river. Access is provided through a sandy pathway leading to a series of floating timber platforms that function as urban beaches, sun decks and social gathering spaces.

Designed as a temporary and mobile structure, the installation can be dismantled and relocated along the river when required. Since its inauguration, Badeschiff has become a significant urban catalyst, contributing to the regeneration of a former industrial site and activating one of Berlin’s most dynamic public waterfronts. The project demonstrates how a precise, resource-conscious intervention can transform existing infrastructure into a vibrant civic space, generating new forms of urban life through architecture, landscape and reuse.

HISTORICAL