Following France’s poor efforts in the 1968 Olympic swimming events, the French government launched a programme to encourage more people to swim. Architect Bernard Schoeller was commissioned and throughout the 1970s and 80s, 183 of his dome shaped pools were built.
The pool above was built in 1975 just outside Strasbourg and has been refurbished by Urbane Kultur who have moved the office and changing rooms to a new building to free up space for two new pools. Some of Schoeller’s pool have an historic rating, some have been pulled down but many are being restored.
Schoeller used the self supporting steel dome structure to create a large column-free space. He called his buildings Touresol (meaning sunflower) and with sliding panels, the building can be opened up in summer to face the sun.