Playing favourites #8: Freyberg Pool

File under: architecture, urbanism, Wellington

There's been some debate over on the Architectural Centre blog about whether or not the Freyberg Pool belongs among Wellington's ten best buildings, but for me, there's never been any doubt. There's an elegance in the swoop of the roof that's all too rare, and it has structural and functional logic behind it as well. I've always been fond of its almost Niemeyeresque dynamism, but it wasn't until I was fortunate enough to have dinner one night at Martin Bosley's that the pool's beauty really hit me: the light flooding out of the glass walls and across the marina was breathtaking.

Imagine if the well-loathed TSB Arena had exhibited such élan! Sure, it's at least twice the size, but even a building of those dimensions should be capable of some grace. Concrete-and-glass Modernism gets a bad rap in some quarters, but the Freyberg Pool proves that back in the 1960s, at least some people saw the need for a long-span roof as an opportunity to create beauty rather than as an excuse to build a cheap shed.