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GESUNDHEIT UND WELLNESS • HEALTH AND SPA INNERE WERTE • INNER VALUES

Die weithin sichtbare Signaletik im Fliesen-Stil ... • The tile-style signage, visible from afar ...

... erleichtert den Badegästen die Orientierung. • ... makes orientation easier for swimmers. Freundlicher Empfang: lufig, hell, klar • Friendly welcome: airy, bright, clear

F ounded in 1965, AIA Life Designers is one of the major players in the industry in George-Vallerey, in honour of the French swimming star who won a bronze medal at the
France. In its 12 offices, which are primarily located in France but also abroad, 1948 Summer Olympics. Twenty years later, in 1986, the sports centre was renovated
the firm employs more than 650 people from the fields of architecture, engineering, by Roger Tallibert. This conversion was revolutionary, as the French architect equipped
economics, urban planning and landscape architecture. Its recipe for success is based the building with an innovative sliding roof so that it could be used all year round from
not least on these competencies and the organizational structure. The group’s capital is then on. Tallibert also redeveloped the 21 x 50-metre Olympic pool and reworked the
held entirely by its employees. In July, AIA Life Designers, in collaboration with Moreau concrete façades. A century after its construction, the aging swimming pool needed to be
Kusunoki and Taller Frida Escobedo, succeeded in winning the competition to convert restructured and renovated again because it was to be used as a training centre for this
the forum and library at the Centre Georges Pompidou. A few months earlier, in March, summer’s Paralympic Games in Paris. As the client acted the state-owned organization
AIA Life Designers had the pleasure of opening another yet important public institution – Solideon, which was entrusted with the financing, supervision and implementation of
th
the Piscine George-Vallerey in the 20 arrondissement of Paris, which was renovated by the Olympic facilities. And this also included the development and conversion work
project manager Guillaume Boudieux and his team. for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris. Construction work on the Piscine
Georges-Vallerey began in September 2022 and ended in March of this year, right in
A pool with a history of water sports time for the start of training. Scaffolding was installed in the stands to allow work to
be carried out on high-lying components such as guttering, lights, ventilation pipes and
The George-Vallerey pool – originally called the Piscine des Tourelles – was built in 1924. metal girders. The latter were treated with rust protection and repainted white. Concrete
A hundred (!) years ago, athletes were already competing there for gold, silver and bron- damage to posts and beams was treated on a case-by-case basis, according to AIA Life
ze medals in swimming, diving and water polo at the Summer Olympics. This swimming Designers, and the pool troughs that were not waterproof were replaced. The architects
stadium and its pool were originally flanked on all four sides by seat grandstands and by had damaged elements, such as tiles and partitions, removed. The lightweight, movable
four massive stair towers on each of the two long sides. From the outside, the concrete roof, which had allowed swimmers to benefit from natural air and daylight since 1986,
building looked like a hermetically sealed fortress. Inside, as historical photos clearly was completely renewed, and the polycarbonate panels and wooden frames of the roof
show, the audience enjoyed open-air bathing fun. Because the building had no roof. covering were dismantled. Renewing this main characteristic, the openable roof, posed
You swam “topless”, so to speak. In 1954, the pool was given its current name, Piscine a major challenge. Now the pool is once again a year-round attraction for swimming

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