In 2018, Dominique Coulon & associés completed La Dunette, a home for the elderly in Huningue, France, which was the subject of an article published in L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui issue No.434. The same year, in Fondettes, in the Indre-et-Loire département, the Strasbourg architect started work on the competition he won in 2016 to build the town's metropolitan aquatic centre.

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Completed in 2024, the new 2,340-sq.m aquatic centre is located in an area with ‘few sports facilities’. Taking advantage of its location ‘in the middle of the fields’, at the heart of the new Grands Champs development park at the gates of Fondettes, the architects designed an aquatic centre with a panoramic view of the surrounding landscape. Through openings spanning the entire double-height of the building’s north façade, combined with the roof sloping so as to focus the eye on this landscape, the fields are laid out in front of the swimmers. A 2,935 sq.m planted solarium at the west side of the building completes the project. This outdoor space, dedicated to leisure, sports and relaxation, is surrounded by long concave white walls with portholes overlooking the distant landscape.

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Aquatic centre, Fondettes, France

Programme: Construction of an aquatic centre with a 25×12.5 m sports pool, a 150 sq.m learning and leisure pool, a 30 sq.m paddling pool, an indoor slide, wellness areas (jacuzzi, sauna and solarium) and an outdoor aqua playground
Client: Tours Métropole Val de Loire
Architects: Dominique Coulon & associés
Photographs : Eugeni Pons
Surface area: 8,878 sq.m
Design: 2016
Completion: 2024
Cost: €8 million euros excluding VAT