Weyermannshaus Open-Air Pool

About the building

In the west of the city, in the Untermatt district, a large, almost lake-like expanse of water lies between the Bremgarten forest to the north and the A12 motorway viaduct to the east. Locals affectionately call the pool „Weyerli“, little pond. Besides the open-air pool, the complex includes an indoor pool, an artificial ice rink and a restaurant. Outside the bathing season the grounds serve as a park.

The name recalls an old pond. In 1235 Henry of Hohenstaufen gave the Bernese mayor Peter von Bubenberg a pond outside the city as a fief, and in 1338 the city sold Hans von Bubenberg a piece of common land by the „wyer von Bubenberg“. The name of the estate probably derives from the house of the man who looked after the water. By the 16th century three connected fish ponds had developed, drained in turn. From 1620 they were drained for good and the land was farmed. Only part of the westernmost pond survived; a bathing place with natural banks was set up there in 1908–1910.

The site became a municipal open-air pool at the end of the 1950s. According to Wikipedia, the edge of the basin was concreted in 1957; the City of Bern gives 1958 as the year of construction. The buildings were designed by the architect Hans Beyeler, among them a main building, a restaurant and changing rooms. The southern changing building of 1958 is the last of three originally identical buildings and is a listed monument. The indoor pool and ice rink followed in 1970 according to Wikipedia, in 1971 according to the city's documents; at the same time the basin, which had been losing a lot of water into the ground, was sealed.

Since 1958 the basin has been filled with groundwater. Wikipedia gives its surface as 16,000 square metres, the city as just under 15,500; its volume is about 25,000 cubic metres. For a long time the hand-chlorinated water flowed untreated into the Wohlensee, and part of it kept seeping away. In September 2020 voters approved a credit of 48 million francs. After a year and a half of works the pool reopened on 14 May 2022, with a new basin surface, water treatment, a redesigned children's pool and a wide slide. The indoor pool and ice rink are to be replaced by a new building.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Stadt Bern: Vortrag des Gemeinderats an den Stadtrat, Sanierung Freibad Weyermannshaus · Nau.ch: Berner Weyerli erstrahlt in neuem Glanz (Mai 2022) · Wikipedia (de): Weyermannshaus · Wikidata: Q23021448