Waterpark Materials

Antibacterial and water-repellent surfaces made from birch bark, tiles made from recycled building rubble, glass tiles with a calming scent or concrete slabs with retroreflective quality: these are just a few of the many innovations of recent years that could revolutionize bathroom construction. In a joint special show at FSB/Aquanale 2017, the European Waterpark Association and KölnMesse showed fascinating examples of how public pools and saunas can be transformed into real adventure spaces for guests with the help of innovative materials.

“The bathroom of the future is certainly not a gigantic facility that can do everything, but rather a place where people feel completely at ease. An innovative, creative atmosphere must be clearly perceptible, we must be open to new products in terms of equipment, we have to be ecologically oriented and have plenty of variability. The bathroom has to be like a theater, like a stage, that means I have to be able to constantly remodel it and be able to use it again and again “- this is how the President of the European Waterpark Association described Dr. Michael Quell, the challenge for the European pool industry.

With the special exhibition, the European Waterpark Association gave suggestions for a redesign of the popular leisure worlds, in which ecology and sensuality, sustainability and experience-orientation interlock. With the support of the Berlin based material experts from Haute Innovation, examples of new building materials were shown that enable unusual haptic, optical and olfactory experiences and at the same time make natural and recycled building materials tangible in a new quality. Natural materials with antiseptic properties of birch bark and bamboo were used for their use in pool construction, as were surfaces that are given air-cleaning properties through a special coating or enable surprising experiences for thermosensitive furniture.

“The exhibition concept is based on a direct sensory experience for the visitors”, explained the managing director of EWA, Dr. Klaus Batz, “you will not only be able to see the exhibits, you will also feel and smell them”. At the same time, examples will be shown for a continuation of the real architecture in virtual realities, which not only enable a new dimension of experience in the construction of slides, but also in the theming of leisure pools and thermal baths.

www.fsb-cologne.de