A few weeks back, Hamburg hit 35 degrees and the city melted.

Like many people, we packed up a picnic and headed to the Elbe for a cold Alsterwasser and some relief. The Elbe is beautiful to the west of Hamburg. It opens into beaches and shady trees, and you can watch cargo ships and passenger liners heading toward the open ocean. Sitting on its banks is one of my favorite pastimes here.

The problem is, with extremely unpredictable currents, it is very dangerous to swim. I was itching to get in the water, but with so many kids around it sets a bad example. So instead, along with thousands of others on the beach, I sat in the sun sweating, simply looking at the water but unable to swim.

As an Australian, this really bothered me.

And I started thinking. Why is there not a public pool here?

As a design architect, my tools are my ideas and my ability to put them on paper. So I started exploring. If Sydney can build an iconic pool on the rocky edges of Bondi Beach, where massive swells crash regularly, why cannot Hamburg build something similarly epic?

For a while now I have been exploring and sketching a series of speculative public space projects that engage with Hamburg and imagine ways to make it even cooler than it already is. The idea is to share ambitious but practical design concepts that serve a few roles:

They are a chance to think seriously about social infrastructure that could improve the city.
They explore bigger ideas about sustainability, and how to express this through big picture, big swing ideas. How to upcycle at scale. Make a real difference.
On a personal level, they let me explore and express some wilder ideas to connect and engage more deeply with my adopted city.

So without getting too bogged down in details (yes, like handrails and lifeguard towers), I have explored an idea for an iconic swimming pool on the banks of the Elbe.

One people can actually swim in on those gloriously warm days.

The Elbe Maze Pool