The world’s first fully transparent swimming pool, constructed in clear acrylic and spanning 15m like a bridge between two adjacent residential buildings.
Sky Pool was constructed in separate sections with transparent bonded joints cleverly designed to maximise the bond area and avoid areas of high stress. The many constraints considered and overcome in the design include the weight of water, differential movement, and no traditional joints. The whole pool weighs 50 tonnes and contains a total of 150 tonnes of water.
Sky Pool is a spectacular and highly visible structure despite the translucent quality of the acrylic used as the structural material. As such it is a public demonstration of the structural engineer’s art and focusses attention of the achievements of the profession.
The technological developments in the material and bonding techniques, at this scale, provide a legacy and resource for structural engineers to push on from.
Overall, achieving such a structure in a novel material and in such demanding circumstances, and all in the public eye, is a commendable and inspiring achievement.