Aquatics Centre, Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games
Simultaneously designing for the Games and the legacy
- CLIENT: Paris 2024 COJOP
- LOCATION: Paris, France
- CAPACITY: 5,000
- SERVICES: Architecture + Events
As the only permanent venue designed for the Paris Olympics, the Aquatics Centre was given a Games-time overlay of temporary structures, equipment and technology. Designed as a highly sustainable, low-carbon building complete with a timber structure and roof covered in solar panels, the Aquatics Centre featured a novel modular configuration which enabled it to be switched from a 5,000-seat venue during the Games to a 2,500-seat facility in legacy.
WOO designed the Games overlay and collaborated with the post-Games legacy project team to ensure the new venue would be as flexible as possible in its future life. The Games configuration made the most of the new building to ensure the venue would work effectively for everyone from athletes and media to the operations team and spectators. This required temporary interventions such as an entrance created across what will become the future bouldering space to bring athletes directly from their drop-off point to the warm-up area.
The WOO team worked tirelessly to sensitively integrate the extensive Games requirements into the legacy masterplan. The delivery of a wholly temporary Olympic 50m competition warm up pool proved to be the greatest challenge. We successfully designed a solution that both mitigated the impact of the large temporary structure on the main spectator arrival, but also provided seamless connection for athletes from warm up to competition.
In its post-Games life, the Aquatics Centre will become a vast multi-sports facility open to all and includes two pools (50m and 25m), a best-in-class diving training facility for leading French athletes and will be home to the country’s diving team.
