Esbjerg Beach Promenade & Sailing Club

Esbjerg Beach Promenade & Sailing Club
© Asger Simonsen

ESBJERG BEACH PROMENADE & SAILING CLUB

Spektrum Arkitekter, Sofie Willems, Nathan Romero, Joan Raun, Stine Christiansen, Kira Snowman

CATEGORY
Public Space, Pier

LOCATION
Hjerting, Denmark

CLIENT
Esbjerg Municipality, Realdania, Lokale & Anlægsfonden

SAILING CLUB AREA
500 m2

DESIGN TEAM
Sofie Willems, Nathan Romero, Joan Raun Nielsen, Kira Snowman, Stine Christiansen

AREA
150000

YEAR
2011

PHOTOGRAPHS
Asger Simonsen

Text description provided by architect.

THE PROMENADE

Promenade’s boardwalk returns the beach to Hjerting. A beach that had always been separated by a low retaining wooden wall and a rock protection barrier is now in a very natural way made accessible.

Esbjerg Beach Promenade & Sailing Club
© Asger Simonsen
Esbjerg Beach Promenade & Sailing Club
© Asger Simonsen

The deck of the promenade rests on top of the rocks and becomes the perfect occasion. The occasion for social interaction, exercise and play, but also for contemplation: a seven hundred meter long easy chair from which to reencounter the horizon.

Within the promenade we explore the archetypical possibilities of the encounter sea-firm land. The bay, the peninsula or pier, the island .

Esbjerg Beach Promenade & Sailing Club
© Asger Simonsen
Esbjerg Beach Promenade & Sailing Club
© Asger Simonsen

This constitutes the “infrastructural frame” of the project, with elements like the floating pier, the ocean pool, the sailing club and the promenade itself.

THE POLES: MAN AND THE HORIZON

Along the promenade we find lighter interventions, random groupings of posts and poles, almost vegetation or treelike: these will register the strength and change of the elements, the tidal movements, combining at times the purely practical with the plastic or artistic.

Esbjerg Beach Promenade & Sailing Club
© Asger Simonsen
Esbjerg Beach Promenade & Sailing Club
© Asger Simonsen

Counterbalancing the overpowering presence of the horizon, these elements are used to characterize, tension and segment in a non rigid way the long stretch of the promenade.

Some pole clusters are provided with grips for climbing, other become the markings for official beach volley games.

Esbjerg Beach Promenade & Sailing Club
© Asger Simonsen
Esbjerg Beach Promenade & Sailing Club
© Asger Simonsen

When the weather permits, hammocks are hung between them and become immensely popular among the younger ones.

These clusters of poles invite us to leave the promenade and step on the sand.

Esbjerg Beach Promenade & Sailing Club
© Asger Simonsen
Esbjerg Beach Promenade & Sailing Club
© Asger Simonsen

THE FLOATING PIER: TAKING DISTANCE

With this structure the promenade reaches out to the sea and leaves firm land. Depending on the tides, it becomes an island or a resting deck lying on the sand.

The pier concentrates a lot of action during the summer months: sunbathing, jumping to the water, contemplating the sea front.

Esbjerg Beach Promenade & Sailing Club
© Asger Simonsen
Esbjerg Beach Promenade & Sailing Club
© Asger Simonsen

THE OCEAN POOL: A MIRROR IN THE SAND

With its bay-like configuration, the sea pool opens its arms to the sea. In high tides it blends with the ocean, in low tides the sea recedes while the pool retains the water and becomes a mirror in the sand.

It allows bathing all through the year in any weather condition. It offers the amazing experience of bathing in a haven of placid water even when the sea around is agitated.

Esbjerg Beach Promenade & Sailing Club
© Asger Simonsen
Esbjerg Beach Promenade & Sailing Club
© Asger Simonsen

Winter bathing has become increasingly popular in Denmark. The pool has been provided with an access ramp and different depths, allowing access in wheelchair as well as sheltered bathing for children.

SAILING CLUB

At the northern end of the promenade, when the terrain starts picking height, the sailing club appears, half buried in the planted dunes, a stranded ship whose elevated deck becomes the natural end to the promenade.

Esbjerg Beach Promenade & Sailing Club
© Asger Simonsen
Esbjerg Beach Promenade & Sailing Club
© Asger Simonsen

Surfers, sailors, winter bathers, gather there and make use of its recreational facilities, changing rooms, workshop and a public sauna with a panoramic window facing the horizon. From the domineering deck of the sailing club we look southwards to rediscover our journey along the promenade.


Esbjerg Beach Promenade & Sailing Club
Elevation
Esbjerg Beach Promenade & Sailing Club
Elevation


Esbjerg Beach Promenade & Sailing Club
Master Plan
Esbjerg Beach Promenade & Sailing Club
3D Model


Esbjerg Beach Promenade & Sailing Club

Section
Esbjerg Beach Promenade & Sailing Club
Section
Esbjerg Beach Promenade & Sailing Club
Section


Esbjerg Beach Promenade & Sailing Club
Floor Plan
Esbjerg Beach Promenade & Sailing Club

Floor Plan
Esbjerg Beach Promenade & Sailing Club
Site Plan