Lighter and calmer

DGI Swim Centre is part of DGI Byen, which is located near Copenhagen’s main railway station. The two large rooms with pools have been extensively renovated to let in the daylight and give the visitors a bright experience.

Built in 1999, the DGI Swim Centre is one of several buildings in the DGI Byen complex, which also houses sports halls, a hotel, the events venue Øksnehallen and a conference centre. The building has a long, curved brick facade overlooking Ingerslevgade, which runs parallel to the railway tracks leading to Copenhagen Central Station. Daylight floods into the Swim Centre through windows along the street as well as through skylights.

The large high-ceilinged rooms house a circular pool in which swimmers can swim continuously rather than do laps, while the traditional rectangular pool in the middle is for water aerobics or other training. The circular pool in particular – where everyone swims in the same direction – creates a sense of meditative tranquility. Beside is a 3.80-metre deep basin with a climbing wall used for diving, shielded by a wall in blue tiles.

Significant change

The extensive renovation of all the surfaces has made a huge difference to the overall experience. The height inside the swimming baths and the influx of daylight are now much more apparent. With new, white Troldtekt acoustic panels on the ceilings and new, white tiling on the floors and walls, the difference to how it looked before the renovation is obvious. It also looks and feels very different in the adjoining room, which has shallower pools for babies, children and warm water aquarobics. Here, the ceiling height is lower, which almost accentuates the difference.

The installed Troldtekt acoustic panels are square in format and with fine and ultrafine structures. The homogeneous surfaces reflect the daylight, but also the blue from the pools. Finally, the acoustic ceilings significantly improve the acoustics at the DGI Swim Centre.