The program of this complex consisted in several swimming pools, one of them of olympic size,a thallasotherapy center and their related equipment, a total of 3,800 square meters to be covered. Roger Taillibert designed for this complex project a structure composed of surbased vaults, to meet the heigth servitude (eight meters maximum). This servitude did not represent a handicap for the architect but, on the contrary, offered him the possibility to develop an architecture very much alive, blending with the landscape.
Seven shell-elements constitute these vaults placed side. They take hold on two abutment piers on the ground 45.60 meters apart and joined by prestressed concrete stays passing underneath the pools. The shells terminale on the ground and serve as rain-water reservoirs ; they present a sculptural effect.
The shape of these shells is achieved with two sections of elliptical cylinder at 25° of the horizon. They are divided at the top by another elliptical cylinder with an horizontal axis, forming long lines of zenith of lighting. These shells are 38 meters long with a section of three meters.
These vaults develop a large space that, although covered, is clear and well lighted. The sun penetrates profusely, allowing the bathers to tan while sheltered from the wind, thanks to the translucent thermoplastic skylights that let ultraviolet rays through and to a light glass curtain that closes the area on its four sides.
The implementation of these shells involved extremely complex formwork on account of the different longitudinal and transversal thicknesses. Thirty-two kilometers of piping were required and the stress limits were calculated by a computer that digested a matrix of 114 linear equation with 114 unknowns each. Furthermore, 2,300 steel ropes, 12 mm. in diameter, distributed in the vault formworks, were incorporated before the concrete was poured to ensure its prestress. The heating plant chimney was installed in the shaft of the exterior diving-board, so as not to spoil the sculptural lines of the vault.
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