Origins of the Tournesol pools

There are 183 Tournesol pools in France, each with a diameter of 35 meters, placed in suburban neighborhoods and rural towns since 1972. These pools were part of a national program of industrial-type pool construction. Only about a hundred are still in operation, leaving approximately 80 Tournesol pools closed, demolished, or transformed, which is nearly half of the total. The program was launched after the Mexico 1968 Games, following poor French results in swimming at the 1968 Olympic Games.

Design and structure of the pools

The Tournesol pools are covered by a light dome 35 meters in diameter and 6 meters high, placed on a masonry base. The dome covers about 1,000 square meters, or nearly four tennis courts. The shell has 36 metal arches covered with polyester tiles, one arch out of two having seven windows. A part of the arches slides open in the summer to clear the pool. Wikipedia describes two movable sectors opening at 60 degrees, while the ministry of Culture's sheet mentions 12 retractable arches and an angle of 120 degrees. The public quickly referred to it as a mushroom or even a flying saucer.

Evolution of the program

Originally, 250 pools were planned, but only 183 were built. The first phase of the "Mille Piscines" operation aimed to provide urban and rural areas with a facility usable in summer and winter, by schoolchildren as well as for leisure. The first Tournesol pool was put into service in 1972 in Nangis, in Seine-et-Marne. This prototype has since been destroyed, as has the first example, in Roissy-en-Brie. The Tournesol was only one of five models selected: Caneton, Plein soleil, Plein ciel, Iris, and Tournesol.

Challenges and renovations

Designed with inexpensive materials on the principle of prefabricated structures, these pools do not age well, and new insulation standards require significant renovation costs. For a municipality, renovating a 1,000 square meter dome can sometimes be more expensive than building something else. In Blois, the city chose a third option: the pool was rebuilt from October 2003 and reopened in July 2004 with a modernized dome. A rare case, since most municipalities did not make this bet. The exact number of demolitions is not established.

Recognition and cultural significance

Part of the park has received official recognition. Bonneveine (2000), Carros-le-Neuf (2006), and Biscarrosse (2012) received the "20th Century Heritage" label. This label was replaced in 2016 by "Notable Contemporary Architecture," created by the Ministry of Culture. Lingolsheim obtained it in 2023, Clermont-Ferrand in 2025, and Raismes and Divion in 2024. In Lingolsheim, the pool built in 1980 was renovated in 2014 by the Urbane Kultur agency, then brought up to current standards.

Legacy and influence

This heritage is also emotional. Champions such as Alain Bernard, Laure and Florent Manaudou learned to swim in these pools. Le Monde, in its summer series of 2022, devoted a story to these polyester shells pierced with windows, with the Bondy pool in the background. To find those in your region, the Merimee database of the Ministry of Culture provides a notice for each labeled building. In the North and Pas-de-Calais, 28 of these domes were built, about one in six.