Dezeen Magazine

Special feature: eight extreme swimming pools

Fancy paddling on an unguarded rooftop? Or doing lengths in a structure cantilevered from a skyscraper? Following the popularity of yesterday's house with an infinity pool on the roof, here are some of the scariest swimming spots from Dezeen's architecture archives (+ slideshow).

Villa Midgård by DAPstockholm

Villa Midgard by DAPstockholm

This slate and corten-steel clad home in Stockholm features a concrete infinity pool on the upper deck with a large glazed opening cut into the side. The aquarium-like window is the first thing visitors see when they enter at ground floor level. Read more about this project »

Wiel Arets' Jellyfish House

Jellyfish House by Wiel Arets

Dutch architect Wiel Arets takes the aquarium concept that bit further in this swimming pool with large glass sections in the base, which cantilevers nine metres to the south west and weighs nearly 60,000 kilograms. People lounging on the terrace underneath enjoy both dappled light filtered through the water and a view of the undersides of swimmers passing overhead. Read more about this project »

Mirage house by Kois Associated Architects

Mirage house with rooftop infinity pool by Kois Associated Architects

Athens studio Kois proposed this house with a giant infinity pool on the roof for a private client on the tiny island of Tinos. The architects say the pool will help the building "disappear" into the landscape. Read more about this project »

Tadao Ando's Casa Monterrey

Casa Monterrey by Tadao Ando with cantilevered pool

Japanese architect Tadao Ando designed a house for a hillside site in Mexico, with a long pool that projects out over the valley below with views over distant mountains. There are also triangular pools inside the house, so you can paddle without going outside. Read more about this project »

360º Building by Isay Weinfeld

360º Building in São Paulo by Isay Weinfeld

Don't stray too close to the edge of this paddling pool, which wraps around the roof of this residential tower in São Paulo by Brazilian architect Isay Weinfeld (it's actually a reflecting pool, but nobody seems to have told the girl in this photo). Read more about this project »

Block H by Kohn Pedersen Fox

Block H by Kohn Pedersen Fox features a cantilevered rooftop pool

American firm KPF proposed a 385-metre-high tower for the Yongsan International Business District in Korea with a vertiginous swimming pool sticking out two thirds of the way up. Read more about this project »

Sky Condos by DCPP Arquitectos

Sky Condos by DCPP features cantilevered pools

For brave occupants who don't suffer from vertigo, DCPP Arquitectos proposed this 20-storey residential block in Lima, Peru, with cantilevered swimming pools that look like dividing boards sticking out of the building. There are no safety rails, for added excitement. Read more about this project »

+ Pool by Family and PlayLab

+ Pool by Family and PlayLab

It's the view from this floating pool that takes your breath away. Family and PlayLab first launched their plan to float a cross-shaped swimming pool in New York's polluted East River back in 2011. The +Pool will filter the water from the river through its walls to create a safe swimming environment, the architects say. Read more about this project »

Thames Bath Project by Studio Octopi

See more stories about swimming pools, including this Studio Octopi proposal for a bath in London's river Thames. We also have a Pinterest board dedicated to pools.