Belbeuf Aquatic Centre

Project overview:

An impromptu walk through the Rouen landscape: at our feet, sinuous curves trace the Seine. Looking up, we contemplate the magnificent presence of the Saint-Adrien cliffs. These encounters then signal the guiding thread of our architectural discourse — that of proposing a building that honours the local identity without producing a pastiche of an inimitable drawing.

To do so, we suggest the lines of these slopes and reproduce the undulations of this limestone ribbon with its planted ridge through white "architectural cliffs". These are translated by a white matrix wrapping the north of the building. Like the strata of this limestone, it becomes a protective element around which the lightness of the building unfolds to the south.

The pool hall opens onto the outdoor decks through generous glazed façades fitted with brises-soleil. The interior frame of timber posts and roof trusses contributes to the slenderness and finesse of the lines visible from the landscaped areas. Touches of colour and timber gently animate the interior of the facility.

Now a beacon of the dynamism and attractiveness of its territory, the aquatic centre of the eastern Rouen plateau in Belbeuf offers a place of varied uses around water. Well-being, social cohesion, and individual, family and collective fulfilment have driven its architectural design, so that this facility is useful and accessible to all.

Discover water, tame it, practise it: recharge through the convergence of aquatic, educational, sporting and recreational leisure activities. We respond to these intentions in a pragmatic and functional way, by offering a new generation of aquatic centre — exemplary in its low ecological footprint.

Programme A 25 m × 15 m sports pool (6 sanctioned lanes) 375 sqm — a learner pool 270 sqm — a young-children learner pool 70 sqm — 3-lane water slide 100 sqm — 200-seat stands — fitness area with sauna, hammam, jacuzzi, activity and leisure pool 120 sqm, sports room 180 sqm, mineral decks