Aquarena in Arras by SAREA Alain Sarfati

As the new term gets under way and stress levels rise, I am making room for gentleness and leisure. Actuarchi presents the Val-de-Scarpe leisure pool complex in Arras, designed by Alain Sarfati. In a region where we are used to featuring buildings with sharp, uncompromising lines, this aquatic leisure centre is the exact opposite.

Forget the current economic climate for the length of a family afternoon. The architect invites you to dream and wins you over with a dance: that of the roof, which seems to absorb the visitors' cries of joy and the small waves stirred up by swimmers' breaststroke. The undulating roof creates openings for daylight and natural drafts. The architect set out to convey "the dream of a shell, rocked by the waves, polished by the foam".

Visible from the Pont de l'Escarpe, a major approach to the town centre, the aquarena presents a rippling glazed façade. From the park, the sculpted concrete shells are pierced by shafts of coloured light that mark out the different areas and ways of enjoying the water.

The balneotherapy pool is clearly identifiable from the outside. Used as a pivot point and clad in a black, pearl-shaped envelope, it puts this particular use of water in the spotlight. Its function nonetheless remains enigmatic, which encourages passers-by to come in and discover the place.

Views from outside are screened off by slit openings in the roof, and the steam rising from the pool reinforces the sensations expected of balneotherapy.

"From the very start of the design process, we looked for an inexhaustible metaphorical imagery, so that pleasure would always be renewed, and without artifice. A pearl, mother-of-pearl, a shell and warm seas are all here. Shimmering, glistening, iridescence: light works its magic on the material, bringing forth fleeting, blended colours, at times soft, at times electric. This bivalve is here, as if emerging from the sediment, at once anchored and soaring towards the sky. This shell, whose evocative magic offers a wide range of forms, colours and dreams between pure, shifting waters and the passage of the clouds, becomes the symbol of modern play," says Alain Sarfati.

The main hall houses three pools: one for serious swimmers and two for leisure activities. Besides its climatic benefits, the membrane stretched across the ceiling reduces the volume of air that has to be treated.