ÖZKD LXXVI Heft 4, pp. 57-66, 2024/04/08
Weiterbauen am Denkmal: Internationale Fachtagung
The challenge of working on listed swimming bath buildings is architecturally demanding and technically complex. The current trend for modernization incorporates preservation and vibrant redevelopment while regaining visual appeal. In most cases, these three aspects are intertwined in a strained relationship in the same building. Swimming baths are a particularly interesting case in point for a comparative study of this development. Buildings of this kind are closely related both typologically and architecturally; their spaces are large on account of their function and elaborately decorated, and they all require ongoing modernization and integration into today’s society. One of the pressing social issues in this regard is the continued vacancy of even important properties in this category. The examples of historic spa architecture discussed here date back to around 1900, the 1930s, and around 1970.