A Piscine Tournesol or Sunflower Pool is a type of

pool Pool may refer to: Water pool * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a rocky pool ...

built in France on an industrial scale in the late 1970s and early 1980s. 183 pools were built as a result of the French government's "Operation 1,000 pools" program. Fosses_(95),_piscine

Background

"Operation 1,000 pools" was launched in

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

and led by

Joseph Comiti Joseph Comiti (4 June 1920, Sotta – 10 November 2000, Bastia) was a French physician, surgeon and politician. A member of parliament for the Bouches-du-Rhône department (province) of France, Comiti served as Secretary of State for Youth, Spor ...

, the Secretary of State for Youth, Sports, and Leisure. The purpose of the program was to promote swimming on a national level following disappointing results at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

and two accidents in 1969 that resulted in the deaths of 43 children. Between 600 and 700 pools were built in 5 styles (Iris, Sky, Sun, Duck, and Sunflower). The Sunflower style edged out the others, winning two design competitions. The Sunflower pool was the design of architect Bernard Schoeller, with Thémis Constantinidis as engineer, and the

Matra Matra (an acronym for Mécanique Aviation Traction) was a French industrial conglomerate. During its years of operation, it was engaged in a wide range of business activities, primarily focused around automobiles, bicycles, aeronautics and we ...

company providing materials. Out of the 250 Sunflower pools that were planned, 183 were built.

Characteristics

There were two designs: one for 25 m pools and another for 50 m pools. The roofs were 6 m tall and opened 120° hence the sunflower name, which, weather permitting, allowed the pools to function as semi-outdoor pools particularly in summer.

Installations

A prototype was built in 1972 in the French commune of

Nangis Nangis () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. Nangis station has rail connections to Provins, Longueville and Paris. Coat of arms Azure with six argent roundels. Demographics The i ...

. The national government dictated the design of the pools but

local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

ran and operated the pools. Sunflower pools were some of the world's first large-scale prefabricated structures. Most Sunflower pools have since been renovated, adapted, or torn down. Several Sunflower pools achieved heritage status in the twenty-first century including: * the Bonneveine pool in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

(2000); * the pool in Carros-le-Neuf (2005); and * the pool in

Biscarrosse Biscarrosse (; oc, Biscarròssa) is a commune in the Landes department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It is located southwest of Bordeaux, and inland from the seaside resort of Biscarrosse-Plage on the Atlantic coast. Near Bis ...

in 2012.

List of Sunflower pools

This is a list of 171 of the sunflower pools built, of which 100 remain. In addition to the 183 pools in France, 3 were thought to have been built in Luxembourg (of which one remains), 1 in Belgium and 1 in Saudi Arabia.

Legacy

A model Sunflower pool is featured at the Architecture and Heritage City Museum in Paris. A photo by Aurore Valade of the Sunflower Pool in

Beauvais Beauvais ( , ; pcd, Bieuvais) is a city and commune in northern France, and prefecture of the Oise département, in the Hauts-de-France region, north of Paris. The commune of Beauvais had a population of 56,020 , making it the most populous ...

was published in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

in the photo book ''Plein air''.

References

Additional reading

* * * Patrick Facon, « Les piscines Tournesol », dans * * {{Cite journal , last=Fillion , first=Odile , year=2000 , title=Volumes d'eau , journal=D'A. d'Architectures , issue=104 , pages=36–51 Swimming venues in France