No one could have predicted whether anyone would really want to go to the East Berlin section of Treptow, walk through a former industrial site and then, finally reaching his or her destination, take a dip in (or on) the Spree River.
Initially it sounded like a major risk, an experiment or even an art event, when it was announced that an old, empty freighter barge would dock at an old industrial pier to be refashioned as a swimming swimming pool.
Okay. Sure, in the heat of the summer there would certainly be some crazy Berliners that would go there to enjoy cold drinks from their coolers and an improvised beach atmosphere.
But what happened last summer, fall and winter, would have been crossed out of any business plan as an “idealistic utopia.”
Starting in June, even early in the morning policemen and photo models crowded together in their lounge chairs. Partiers came here to refresh themselves after dancing all night, and spry retirees did their first laps across the light-blue pool. From the bar the sounds of jazz and the clink of cocktail glasses echoed against a backdrop of sound, the gentle buzz of an awakening city.
Happenings at the same place but at a different time are the only thing that can top this scenario. In winter an inflatable lightweight architecture protects largely young, naked bodies from wind and weather. The lounge chairs have been replaced by soft futon day beds. The result is a futuristic tent landscape, and lines of chattering people that form in front of the saunas.
Although the showers don’t work so well, there aren’t enough toilets and the changing cubicles are located on the cold “mainland”, the so-called Badeschiff-Sauna (Badeschiff means “bathing ship”) is so well visited that entrance had to be limited at the beginning of the year. The Badeschiff has become THE wellness tip for Berlin.
The view of the city and its wide river, the unique architecture and the young public seem to make this sauna more attractive than any other. Or is there more to it than that? Are visitors inspired by taking part in the “swimming swimming pool” experiment? Is it an expression of a certain solidarity with this risky venture? Hard to say. One thing is for sure: Something new and untried is working—with improvisation, perseverance and a nose for good design. We love Berlin!
Link:
http://www.arena-berlin.de/badeschiff.aspx?flagtext=Badeschiff
