Extraordinary Reuse of Vacant Church: Transforming into a Public Swimming Pool in the Netherlands

Two architecture firms teamed up to win the competition to transform the St. Francis of Assisi Church in Heerlen into a public swimming pool.

Nicknamed “Holy Water”, the project gives the vacant church a new social function, while preserving the historic elements of this listed national monument.

The plans from MVRDV and Zecc Architecten incorporate an adjustable swimming pool floor that will bring flexibility to the space, allowing it to host a variety of activities in addition to swimming.

Originally built over 100 years ago in the south of the Netherlands, the church stopped hosting services in 2023, providing the municipality the opportunity to repurpose the building.

A new pool within this national monument offers a solution for the increasing number of visitors to Heerlen’s existing pools, while giving the vacant church in the city center a new lease of life.

The design that connects old and new, allows visitors to walk through the church’s aisles to reach the changing rooms or restaurant, both located at the rear of the church. Glass walls separate these passages from the climatized central pool space.

To make room for the swimming pool, the existing floor will be carefully removed. The church’s pews will be reused by incorporating them into the separating glass walls surrounding the pool, providing seats for the swimmers on one side, while serving as bar tables for spectators on the other side.

The old pulpit is even given a new function—serving as the seat for a lifeguard.

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The pool floor includes an adjustable bottom that can be raised and lowered, enabling different activities for swimmers of different ages and abilities. In its extreme position, the floor can be raised completely, hiding the pool beneath and reintroducing a completely flat floor so that the space can also be used for social and cultural activities.

The floor also makes it possible to fill the entire space with a thin layer of water, creating an impressive reflection of the church that gives visitors the feeling that they can walk on water.

“The vacancy rate of churches is increasing, so we need to come up with new, creative ideas for what we can do with these buildings”, says Winy Maas, founding partner of MVRDV.

“Why not give these churches a social function again, as they used to have? A public swimming pool is ideally suited for this. Imagine swimming the backstroke with a view of a church vault and stained-glass windows.”

A new mosaic floor will adorn both the pool surroundings and the adjustable pool floor. This will reference the existing colors, materials, and stained-glass windows of the church. The design for this floor will be made in collaboration with local artists as a reference to the many murals that Heerlen has to offer. The lighting above the pool is inspired by the original church lamps seen in historic photographs, with the four rows of lamps doubling as lane guides for the swimmers.

A particular challenge of the design was to be able to heat the pool space sufficiently and sustainably, while also protecting the historic materials from the humidity of the pool. To solve this, the glass walls surrounding the pool create a compartmentalizing effect to protect the stained glass and the works of art.

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The roof of the church will be insulated from the outside, preventing excessive heat loss while maintaining the view of the original brickwork from the inside. The wooden roof will be retained and fitted with sound-absorbing panels for better acoustics. This approach ensures an energy-efficient and comfortable indoor climate, while preserving the historical elements of the church as much as possible.

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Swimmers will be invited to take their first plunge at the end of 2027.

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