Natureo Aquatic Centre

Project overview: 
Concept

The facility is conceived first and foremost as a compact building that embraces the spatial potential of the site. It is composed of a central hall around which two more massive volumes are articulated, draped in a vegetal stratum.
This is "sculpted architecture" — a casket of light nestled within a vegetal embrace.

A vegetal ribbon wraps around the pool hall, rises and widens, sways and unwinds to welcome the reception hall… While the continuity of the planted roof ensures the unity of the whole, the breakdown of the volumes creates well-placed breaches and gaps to slip in the access on the north side and the views on the south side.
To the north and east, the mineral façades are quite massive, in contrast with the pool hall. The latter shelters beneath a large, light white roof, punctuated by two glazed "gills" that allow light to penetrate across the full depth of the hall. These gaps, intentionally oriented to the north, bring uniform brightness throughout the day and avoid generating any glare on the pool hall and the reception areas, ensuring the comfort of users and pool staff.

Finally, the transition from the urban to nature is made tangible through the great transparency of the facility's entrance, towards the pond and through the pool hall.

Materiality

The composition of solid and void volumes is accentuated by the choice of materials.
The planted roof is highlighted by the continuity of a white-steel ribbon that underlines the ridgeline and wraps the building. At the breach between the two volumes, it widens to create a canopy.
The mass of the volumes is intentionally accentuated by a specific treatment of the external walls;
- board-marked concrete tinted anthracite-grey on the lower part,
- cladding in mineral panels (Eternit type), broken-white tone, on the upper part,
- the rear façades are treated with external thermal insulation finished in broken-white render.

This makes them easier to read thanks to their colour distinction.

The simplicity and sobriety of this material response contribute to the building's integration into its immediate and wider environment.

By way of complement, the pool hall leans against this thick belt that protects it from the northern orientation, allowing it to open fully to the south, the warmth, the views… The roof shells are carried by a discreet metal frame and the steel decking will be treated in the same broken-white tone. The glazed façades will be in anthracite-grey lacquered aluminium, while the tones of the pool hall will use grey, white and a palette of blues — with the central water slide as the highlight.