Becobad - Open-air swimming pool and water treatment station in the Beco Basin, Brussels.

Project: Becobad - Open-air swimming pool and water treatment station in the Beco Basin, Brussels.
Architect: KIS Studio

Momentary association

Sweco

Programme: Open-Air Swimming Pool Combined with a Water Treatment Station in the Brussels Canal

About: An Open-Air Swimming Pool Combined with a Water Treatment Station in the Brussels Canal
Swimming in open water, or simply outdoors, is a common practice in many European cities. Yet, it remains impossible in Brussels today.
Building on Pool is Cool’s efforts to promote outdoor swimming in Brussels, the Becobad project proposes an ambitious and lasting solution: a 350-meter-long swimming basin at Quai des Péniches, opposite the Kanal Museum. By situating the project here, it revives the former Bruxelles les Bains beach while repurposing an unused section of the canal. It also aligns with the area's ongoing revitalization, marked by a series of public projects, including the Kaaitheater, Parc Max sur Senne, the redevelopment of Quai des Matériaux into a park, and the Suzan Daniel pedestrian bridge.
The project’s concept is simple: a wall within the canal would separate swimming waters from navigation waters, preventing contamination and ensuring safe water quality. Additionally, the system would locally treat polluted canal water. The choice of a natural filtration method would introduce aquatic reed gardens, enhancing the Quai des Péniches and the western façade of the Kanal Museum over a 500-meter stretch.
A Grassroots Initiative Bringing Together Public Actors
This project was not commissioned by public authorities but was self-initiated. Initially developed from a few conceptual sketches in 2021, it gained support from Pool is Cool and Sweco, leading to discussions with Bains de Bruxelles, the Port of Brussels, Brussels Environment, and the Minister for Environment and Climate Transition. In 2022, Bains de Bruxelles commissioned a preliminary feasibility study, exploring water treatment, safety, and public space design. The resulting images and findings were widely shared through media, interviews, and debates. Following public discussions, the Brussels government allocated budgetary resources for further studies, and the Port of Brussels appointed a project manager to oversee the initiative. In October 2024, with the support of bMa, Beliris launched a public procurement process for an in-depth feasibility study by a multidisciplinary team.
Beyond proposing an open-air swimming pool and a natural water treatment station, this project exemplifies our approach to architecture—designing initiatives capable of bringing together diverse stakeholders and sparking urban transformation processes that might never have occurred without this initial vision.
In 2023, the project was "awarded as one of the top 8 European innovative solutions" by TheArchProject (supported by the European Parliament).