Industrial group Bouygues has been awarded the bid to construct the Paris 2024 Aquatic Center, Inside the Games reported in April. French architecture firm Ateliers 2/3/4 and Dutch group VenhoevenCS contributed to the design.
The center, located in Saint-Denis. will have a 6,000-person capacity and host artistic swimming, diving and water polo. According to Inside the Games, it will feature a 70-meter pool with a moveable bulkhead. The pool can reportedly be divided into three separate 25-meter areas – two lengthwise and one widthwise.
The facility is one of three permanent ones being built for event and will have its capacity reduced to 2,500 after the conclusion of the 2024 Paralympics. The aquatic center’s roof will reportedly be covered in solar panels.
Swimming competitions will reportedly take place in temporary 50-meter pools in a venue with a 15,000 spectator capacity. The temporary pools will be moved to a new location following the Games.
Overall, the project is set to cost €174 million (£151million/$190million), with construction expected to start next spring.
Paris organizers had initially proposed building a permanent 15,000-capacity aquatics facility near the Stade de France, the country’s national stadium. Those plans were quashed over the French government’s concerns about cost.
