Guðlaug Baths

Venue for travellers and locals
The idea behind the Guðlaug pool was to create a new attraction and strengthen the development of tourism in the area, while also addressing the needs of the local inhabitants who frequent the beach for sea swimming and other recreational activities. The design had to take into account the constant erosive forces of the ocean and the large tidal differences, also striving to minimize the negative effects of the intervention on the popular beach area. As a result, the pool is carefully nestled into a rocky breakwater barrier at the tangent point between sea and land.

Pools connected to land and sea

The project draws on Iceland's historic tradition of geothermal bathing, and the design is inspired by natural pools formed around rocks on the beach by the ocean tides. The pool is constructed within the breakwater barrier along the beach, where untreated geothermal water is channelled into the upper pool from a large spring located 60 kilometres to the northeast. Water overflows from the top pool into the one below, which is cooler in temperature and fills with seawater as the tide rises. The top platform serves as a roof and viewing deck for walking visitors. The location in the breakwater barrier minimises the impact on the site, and the pool now serves as an attraction and destination for travellers as well as local residents.