Châteauroux Aquatic Centre

THE MAGIC OF WATER under a drapery of LIGHT.

Our work is built around 4 guiding principles:
- Ambitious, distinctive architecture in harmony with the existing site and the developments of the emerging neighbourhood,
- A facility that combines sports, leisure, entertainment, conviviality and user comfort,
- Constructive and environmental responses that are realistic and pragmatic, in keeping with the budget,
- A durable, secure building with controlled maintenance.

Set on the edge of the city, the Châteauroux aquatic centre naturally creates a transition with the surrounding nature. The siting of this new facility is an opportunity to upgrade all the plots concerned, with an intervention that goes beyond the simple limits of the building.

A three-faced architectural composition, responding to a singular urban context:
- a presentation from the city through a public square, a new place to live at the heart of the neighbourhood, directly serving the bar and the multipurpose room;
- an urban façade responding with dignity to the renovated neighbouring buildings;
- subtly cut façades, offering views and transparencies between the city and the pools.

The careful altimetric setting of the building offers several advantages:
- better perception of the aquatic centre from the city,
- efficient distribution of all the spaces grouped within a compact functional volume,
- financial savings through the optimisation of earthworks,
- intelligent siting that significantly reduces the need for soil decontamination.

This choice of layout also helps preserve the tranquillity of local residents by moving the technical zone to the north of the building, with slightly recessed planted decks offering views over a green setting.

Thus, from the overhanging forecourt, the city enters the building, which offers a sweeping view over all the pools, and beyond, the racecourse.

The reception area controls the main access and all public flows towards the stands, the changing rooms and the wellness area. The changing rooms, located at deck level, allow two distinct accesses to the pools: in the sports/learning zone or in the leisure/family zone, with possible shared uses.

The outdoor decks are accessed directly through wide openings. A connecting airlock, foreseen as standard, allows year-round access to the outdoor heated pool. As an option, this can offer 2 swimming lanes of 50 metres and a deeper section for diving.

The layout of the hall and the pools makes it possible to welcome all audiences at the same time.
The stands, accessed directly from the entrance, and the equipment around the sports pool, allow the organisation of officially sanctioned competitions.

The wellness area benefits from a sheltered location, ensuring the calm and serenity that match its identity. Located on the upper floor, it will offer a beautiful view over the Indre river and its wooded banks.
Subtly inspired by textile drapery, the pleated roof bathes the water surfaces in light. This light enhances the stainless-steel skin of the pools through silvery reflections. The movements of this roof, through their geometry, contribute to the great acoustic quality of the aquatic space.

The materials used are the result of a balanced approach between the contemporary and the timeless. The urban volumes of the entrance will be clad in sand-toned composite stone panels. The roofs and structures of the hall combine glazed surfaces with white fibre-reinforced concrete panels.

In order to reduce operating costs, every effort has been made to achieve ambitious energy performance. Bioclimatic design and the composition of the thermal envelope, combined with pragmatic solutions for energy production and recovery, make it possible to exceed the requirements of the brief. We will guarantee these commitments through energy monitoring and performance guarantees.