Designers unveil plans for King’s Cross pool where swimmers can take a dip alongside wildlife

Plans for a freshwater natural pool in which people will be able to swim alongside wildlife in central London have been unveiled.
The pond is scheduled to open in King’s Cross in May – and is designed to be kept clean through “natural processes”.
The project – called “Of Soil and Water: King’s Cross Pond Club” – is being undertaken as part of the ongoing redevelopment of the area.
Efa Pfannes, founder of designers Ooze Architects, said: “The project of Soil and Water is a natural swimming pond. It’s purely naturally filtered water which we’ll be able to swim in and it’s surrounded by plants to introduce a little wild nature.”

The pool is being built two metres above ground level and will measure 10 metres wide by 40 metres long.
The environment around it will be designed to look “as natural as possible”, designers said.
Ms Pfannes added: “The project is a small-scale enclaved environment; a living laboratory to test balance and to question a self-sustaining system including one nature cycle – water, land and the human body.
“Actors are part of the process. Visitors enter a living laboratory where they are aware of their relationship with nature, and about consequences of their interaction with nature and take responsibilities, they thus become actors.”
Sylvain Hartenberg, from the architecture firm, added: “In London you have this culture already of swimming in lakes – the Serpentine, Hampstead [ponds] – so the culture is kind of here. It just needs to be enhanced a bit more.”
The pool is to be cleaned by wetland plants and wildlife which will inhabit it, with visitor numbers restricted on given days to allow it to regenerate.