Piscina das Marés

Leça de Palmeira beach is on the coast of Matosinhos, a small town north of Porto. Completed in 1966, the Leça Swimming Pool Complex is one of Álvaro Siza Vieira's most recognized early projects, a project that blends into a natural formation without overshadowing it. Leça's pool complex consists of changing rooms, a café and two swimming pools, one for adults and one for children. It is located between the Atlantic Ocean and the highway access that follows the coast, but is deploying almost completely out of sight. By sinking the building behind the highway, there is a disconnect between the pools and the city's infrastructure. The pools reach the ocean and blend in with the natural pools along the coast. You enter via a smooth concrete ramp parallel to the road. As you walk down the hall, past the changing rooms and showers, the rough concrete walls begin to obscure views of both the traffic and the ocean ahead. Without views, the ocean becomes barely audible, and this transition between road and sea is captured in a sensory experience within the building.

When leaving the changing rooms, you enter a series of platforms. Looking back, the first view of the building, now below street level. The color of concrete walls is a shade lighter than natural stone, marking what is construction and what is natural. Facing the sea, the water again becomes the dominant view and the pools appear between the vast ocean and the complex. The children's pool is connected to a curved concrete wall at one edge, and a bridge and large rocks at the other. Located further inland. The adult pool appears to be in the sea. Formed by low concrete walls, natural rock formations are scattered along its edges. The water level of the pool always seems to be the same as that of the sea, an illusion that connects and inserts the pool into the sea. This intentional blurring confuses the real understanding of the created boundary, and thus visually increases the extent of the space.

Nas piscinas de Leça, Siza demonstra uma conexão com o natural, mantendo a individualidade de sua intervenção. O projeto é internacionalmente reconhecido e ainda hoje mantém sua integridade e um popular local de retiro.