2021 National Enduring Architecture Award

Olympic Swimming Pool by Kevin Borland, John and Phyllis Murphy and Peter McIntyre, with engineer Bill Irwin

Jury citation

Swimming pools became one of the new public spaces at the cultural and community heart of Australian post-war society, with many built as “living” war memorials. They helped to launch swimming as a significant competitive sport for the nation while sealing the emergence of what’s been labelled the golden era of Australian swimming. The former Olympic Swimming Pool stadium is one of the few remaining landmarks of the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne and one of the most significant mid-century buildings.

The experimental design was the result of a 1952 design competition, won by young Melbourne University graduates Peter McIntyre, Kevin Borland and John and Phyllis Murphy, working in collaboration with engineer Bill Irwin. Competition juror Robin Boyd labelled the design, which was the first enclosed swimming and diving venue in the history of the Games, as “the best in the world.” A high point of expressive structural functional design, it was not only the signature structure of the 1956 Games, but a world-first for post-tensioned, high-tensile steel structures of its type.

So radical was the architecture that building certification was only granted after the CSIRO provided evidence confirming its structural soundness. Peter McIntyre explains that it was the opposite of usual structures: instead of falling if hit by a bomb, it was akin to a jack-in-the-box and would fly into the air and land on Parliament House! The structure comprised 14 lattice girders pin-jointed to 14 tubular roof trusses. The girders sloped outwards at 42.5 degrees to support tiers of concrete seating and the whole assembly was pinned down with vertical tension rods. Massive, glazed curtain walls enclosed each end of the pool.

Using minimal building materials, the design solution ingeniously met the financial concerns of the Olympic-wary government and the post-war materials shortage. Although the minimal expression came at a cost for acoustic performance, this was successfully mitigated by a series of dampers applied to the roof. Memorably, this was tested at the building’s opening by a rendition of Handel’s Water Music performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra afloat on a raft in the centre of the pool; the audience wore overcoats to further temper the acoustics.

Jury members were privileged to undertake a virtual visit to the structure. Peter McIntyre spoke to us from the vast interior, reflecting movingly on the project and his design partners.

Project credits

Architect: Kevin Borland, John and Phyllis Murphy and Peter McIntyre, with engineer Bill Irwin

Olympic Swimming Pool is located in Melbourne, Victoria, on the land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation.

Source

Award

Published online: 4 Nov 2021
Words: 2021 National Architecture Awards Jury
Images: Supplied, Unknown – see architecture.com.au/awards/2021-awards/national-shortlist/olympic-swimming-pool-eduring

Issue

Architecture Australia, November 2021

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