The XIXth Olympic Games in Mexico requiring altitude training for the French athletes, the authorities decided to build a training center at the Pyrenean resort of Font-Romeu, situated at an altitude of 1,800 meters. The site selected was a vast amphitheatre sheltered from the winds, which are numerous in this part of the country, and offering a panoramic view of the Cerdagne region.


To make it a profitable investment, the first step was to build a shoot to be attended year-round by students interested in sports but unwilling to give up their studies. In a way, it was a revolution in pedagogical methods that proved to be a positive experience since the sports complex of Font-Romeu still functions as an altitude lycée oriented towards sports. Besides, the students are not the only ones to use the sports facilities ; they are shared as well by the public who has access to them outside of class periods.


Roger Taillibert has designed a vast park where summer and winter would be differentiated by open and closed areas. The buildings, located around the sports fields and the olympic swimming pool, comprise a large central block, the equestrian center and the skating-rink. The central building, which is the meeting-place of students and sportsmen, is designed as a club or cultural center. It is divided into large volumes closely interrelated and comprises various elements such as a large gymnasium, a covered swimming pool, a 600-student school complex, a large multi-purpose room and a restaurant. This building is dominated by the nine-storey, fan-shaped tower that houses the resident students in its 216 rooms.


The structure of the skating-rink is very particular ; it consist of metal trussed beams with triangular section resting on concrete columns 36 meters apart. These apparent beams, made of small components, are step-lined parallel to the slope of the roof, letting in day-light over the central area.

The implementation of this complex required 200,000 cubic meters of concrete and was completed within nine months, which is a record for a project of this magnitude. The work was done without heavy industrialization, since the prestressed factory-poured elements were trucked to the site.

City of sports and academic city, the Font-Romeu complex realizes in a magnificent setting an harmonious union between mind and body.

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