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Lido, New Brighton

Part 1 Project 2007
Jonah Jay
 University of Liverpool | UK
The Lido, New Brighton, promotes the enjoyment of open air and space, where calm, balance and order prevail. Two white pavilions face each other across three outdoor pools, enclosed by walls and colonnades. Attempting to purify architecture, it stands chaste, understated, white-walled; preaching moderation. It came, in the words of Whitman: "out of the old and the new, out of the square entirely divine, solid – four sided – all sides needed, modern as any”.


Paradoxically, the return of real hand-drawn schemes employs the severest geometry and composition. The arrangement of planes, forms and frames goes back to the earliest moments of modern architecture forsaking the nautical imagery of beaches and pools for a rationalism blending early Mies with Terragni as the more obvious influences. The lido is stripped of all inessential decoration, leaving a rather monastic sexiness for the display of human flesh. A powerful interior hidden behind a numbed perimeter promises Körperkultur maybe even a gymnasium for the mind. This is a brilliant exercise in a refined, somewhat nostalgic, but elegant architectural language.
2007
The Lido lies long and low over its site, between the Mersey and the Marine Lake, close to the imposing sandstone bulk of the Perch Rock Battery
The main pavillion faces south over the pools at the intersection of the colonnades.
Creating a feeling of enclosure of the terrace, the spider legs form a powerful western facade. The structure is based on a 6M grid, using steel and concrete with load bearing walls.
This is the first view of the pool interior upon entering the Lido. The calm and shelter of the water, surrounded by columns and whiteness, contrasts with the approach along a blind wall
From the shore, the south pavilion appears glassy, divided up with exposed concrete columns and areas of white wall. Reflecting pools send wavelets across the facade, and allow light deep into the plan.
The ground floor plan shows the arrangement of pools, the location of the side entrance, and the layout of the changing rooms. Reflecting the differing attitudes of the sexes, the female areas are social, while the male ones are more confrontational.
The first floor has less covering to facilitate use of the open air for soaking up the sun. Chosen for the location of the cafe and restaurant, it affords a good view of the pools and the surroundings.
The west elevation overlooks the Marine Lake, its columns and walls reflected in the water, long and low at the water's edge.
This section shows the uses of the main pavilion and the construction. Load bearing walls of fair-faced concrete blocks support the first floor, while a steel framed roof reduces weight. Precast concrete modules, such as benches, are built into the walls.
Viewed from the entrance to the Perch Rock Battery, the long low cantilevers and oblong forms alternate wall and glass, shadow and light, breaking up the rhythm of roof and terrace.
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