A Piscine Tournesol or Sunflower Pool is a type of swimming 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.

Background

"Operation 1,000 pools" was launched in 1969 and led by Joseph Comiti, 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 and two accidents in 1969 that resulted in the deaths of 43 children.

Between 600 and 700 pools were built in five 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 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.

The national government dictated the design of the pools but local authorities 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 (2000); the pool in Carros-le-Neuf (2005); and the pool in Biscarrosse in 2012.Bilan 2011–2012 : Patrimoine architectural du XXe siecle, sur le site du Ministry of Culture (France)..

List of Sunflower pools

This is a list of 172 of the sunflower pools built, of which 100 remain.

In addition to the 183 pools in France, 3 were built in Luxembourg (of which one remains), 1 in Belgium and 1 in Saudi Arabia.