Center aquatique de l’Ô-bleue
Fluent
Dominique Coulon & associés
The external impression of the building is as flat as it is fleeting. The curved walls are more than 100 meters long and are pleasantly lost between the fields and the horizon.
This is not a show-off building.
The Centre aquatique de l’Ô-bleue is located at the entrance to the small French municipality of Fondettes (11,000 inhabitants), just a few kilometers from Tours. The surrounding area is characterized by residential areas, flat land and another new traffic circle.
The bathroom, designed by Dominique Coulon & associés, was therefore built on a greenfield site and was to become a defining point of reference for a new landscape design scheme.
The planners responded to this challenge with an elongated, white building whose façades and roof shape develop inwards.
The external impression of the building is as flat as it is fleeting. The curved walls are more than 100 meters long and are pleasantly lost between the fields and the horizon. This is not a show-off building.
Towards the landscape, the façades open almost to the ground, while they rise towards the street. Additional light enters the bathroom through the round skylights.
It is impossible not to describe this space as fluid.
The main entrance to the Centre aquatique de l’Ô-bleue is located at an indentation in the southeast. Adjacent are the changing rooms and washrooms, and then it’s into the light: the bathing hall with its three pools, a water slide, a whirlpool as well as sauna, relaxation and connected outdoor areas is flooded with light.
The swimmers’ corner measures 25 x 12.5 meters and, as the “Baunetz” beautifully describes, offers views depending on the swimming style and thus the body position: During the crawl, you can look out through ceiling-high windows into the landscape, during the breaststroke through wall-high windows into the garden and during the backstroke through the skylights towards the sky.
In addition to the sports pool, there is a 150 m² fun pool with a water depth of up to 1.30 m, a 30 m² paddling pool for small children and the water slide run-out pool with three lanes. Spherical indentations in the wall provide places to sit and relax, as do the benches.
It is impossible not to describe this space as fluid.
Everything is in its place here.
The wellness area includes two saunas, a whirlpool, a hammam, a steam bath and the associated loungers. This area has its own access to the outside, which is separated from the rest of the spa and garden by newly planted trees.
The garden of the Centre aquatique de l’Ô-bleue, with its beach volleyball court and water playground, is zoned by 300 new trees and bordered by the seemingly endless white wall.
Everything is in its place here.
Project data
Architect
Dominique Coulon & associés
Dominique Coulon, Hannes Libis, Lukas Unbekandt, Adrien Petit, Olivier Werner, Hannes Libis
Building owner
Tours Metropolis, Val de Loire
Basin
Myrtha Pools
Address
Centre aquatique de l’Ô-bleue
Rue Alfred de Musset
F – 37230 Fondettes
Endless Surf
Opening
2022
Photos
Eugeni Pons
Text
Johannes Bühlbecker
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