HabibUuniversity in Karachi gave a pragmatic brief on a tight budget for an enclosure for its 25meter pool. “Purdah” or privacy during ladies’ swimming sessions required that views into the pool area be curtailed from adjacent roofs, terraces and other vantage points. Swimmers were also to be protected from the strong Karachi sun.

Envisioning the swimming experience as an immersion into nature, the architects conceived of the enclosure as a space both interior and exterior. The roof is a modulator of sunlight, shade, reflections and breezes in addition to views. The enclosure walls are detached from the roof to create a sense of openness and allow vegetation.

The structure is a composite of concrete frame, mild steel trusses and bamboo infill. The enclosing boundary wall is masonry clad with local yellow sandstone found in the coastal areas of Pakistan. Materials including terracotta flooring were all chosen to create a sense of the swimming pool as a space for nature.

The roof form is a gently warped bamboo plane described by a series of pitched trusses that change profile sequentially. Starting flat at the north-west end near the campus buildings, the pitch of the steel trusses increases as the roof progresses southwest - ie towards the wind direction. This is also the direction in which no buildings are allowed by Civil Aviation height limits. Therefore the roof can open up to allow breezes in as well as views of the sky from within the swimming pool area.

The gaps between the bamboos cast dappled sunlight on the water in addition to illuminating the space functionally. The crookedness of the bamboo is in accompaniment to the rippling of the water creating two fluid surfaces in dialogue.

This project is a first step in the architect’s exploration of a culturally attuned architecture that is yet open to the natural gifts of Karachi, melding indoors and outdoors.