Aquasports Centre of Val d'Isère

Project overview: the aquasports centre is composed of a sports pool, a leisure pool, a well-being area with hammam and sauna, sports rooms, a climbing wall, a squash court and play areas.

From integration to fusion The client's environmental concern and the obvious need to respect the quality of the site led the winning team to go beyond simple integration into the natural setting. We can speak here of a true fusion: burying the building in the upslope ground makes it possible to keep the existing site profile intact. No salient element disturbs the plasticity of the snowy envelope. The landscape is therefore restored identically at the foot of the legendary Bellevarde face. Its only façade, oriented to the east, is widely open to the grandiose panorama from which the neighbouring mountains of Le Dôme and La Tsanteleina emerge. Thanks to its huge glazed surface, full of transparency, indoor and outdoor become one. The whole is linear, with no rupture whatsoever, and the sensation of fusion between the building and its environment is reinforced.A functional and playful place Open, legible and didactic, the interior organisation of the building allows users to find their way easily and to navigate "by sight" without relying systematically on signage — a much more pleasant experience for a predominantly international clientele. The general reception and the aquatic spaces are located on the ground floor. The same goes for the balneotherapy area, nestled inside the aquatic hall: its supple shapes, its timber deck and the originality of the saunas — whose boxes project into the volume of the pools — give this relaxation place, protected behind its glass partition, an intimate character with a hint of exclusivity. Located just behind the façade, the aquatic hall offers two pools totalling more than 700 sqm of water surface. All the well-being functions are gathered there: counter-current swimming, bubble benches, massage jets, water cannons and a children's play area. Sport swimming naturally finds its place in a separate 25-metre pool. Around them, the open spaces offer the possibility of resting or strolling. Set on the upper level, the weight-training, fitness and squash rooms overlook the whole. The climbing space, located on a lower level to take advantage of the building's triple height, is crossed from the entrance of the sports centre by a glazed walkway showcasing the climbers — both from the inside and from the outside. A play of visual transparency: façades, entry walkway and glazed partitions, aerial galleries — the building opens its spaces wide to natural light.

A demanding project The design-build procedure, selected by the Town of Val d'Isère for its scheduling and budgetary constraints, required the association of partners with proven skills. The design-build deadlines, a two-stage delivery for two specific uses, the environmental constraints (1,850 m altitude, long winter, heavy snowfall, seismic and avalanche resistance, cable car and chairlift overhanging the building) called for an operational and qualitative response combining speed, efficiency and safety. The team GFC Construction / Atlas Architectes & COSTE Architectures won the project by taking these requirements into account and applying them as soon as the result was known.

Article from Le Moniteur, 6 February 2009