The World’s First Infinity Pool With a 360-Degree View Is Coming to London
A pool company is ready to give influencers from around the world a new reason to flock to London.
Compass Pools announced plans to build the world’s first infinity pool with 360-degree views on Thursday, reports CNN. The 600,000-liter pool will sit atop a planned 55-story highrise in the center of the UK capital and will provide completely unobstructed views of the city skyline in every direction, almost certainly offering the country’s best Instagram opportunities. But it’s not just London that will be on display. Made of cast acrylic, the pool will also feature transparent sides and floors so that visitors to the building can gaze upon the swimmers above them.
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In order to make sure nothing gets in a way of its panoramic views, the company promises there won’t be any stairs on the outside of the pool or building. So how do swimmers actually get into the pool? To solve one of the “major technical challenges” that came up during the design process, Compass has developed a unique spiral staircase that will rotate and rise up through the water, which swimmers will access through a special entrance at the bottom.
“The solution is based on the door of a submarine, coupled with a rotating spiral staircase which rises from the pool floor when someone wants to get in or out – the absolute cutting edge of swimming pool and building design and a little bit James Bond to boot!” designer Alex Kemsley said in an interview posted on the company’s website.
But its technological advancements don’t stop there. The pool will also be kitted out with a built-in anemometer to measure wind speed. In conjunction with the computer-controlled building-management system, it will regulate the temperature of the water while making sure that water doesn’t splash out onto the city streets 55 stories below. Waste energy from the building’s AC system will also keep the water heated.
While a pool, even a truly outlandish one, is usually meant to enhance a property, Compass’ infinity pool is actually the focal point of the entire development. “Architects often come to us to design rooftop infinity pools, but rarely do we get a say in the building design because the pool is usually an afterthought,” Kemsley said. “But on this project, we actually started with the pool design and essentially said, ‘how do we put a building underneath this?”
Right now, Compass’ goal is for a five-star hotel to be built on the floors beneath the pool. And if partners and contractors can be confirmed soon, the company hopes that construction will begin on the building, and pool, next year.
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