Seine Open-Air Swimming Site – Paris, France
Title
Seine Open-Air Swimming Site – Paris, France
Website Source
https://www.instagram.com/mater.studio/,
Designed by
Mater Studio
Image Credit
© Joséphine Brueder
Project Description
Project description provided by Mater Studio - After a hundred-year ban on swimming in the Seine, Mater Studio designed and led the
construction of a structure that had yet to exist: a seasonal and fully demountable site, designed
to accommodate 300 people, including a 950 m², 60-metre-long swimming area, a 415 m²
floating structure, and 480 m² of facilities on land. The entire site was installed on the footprint of
a former car park and was designed not to disturb the neighbouring residential barges, with
which it shares the entire water infrastructure.
But above all, the challenge was to invite the public to take a gesture that is as simple as it is
intimidating: to dive into the Seine. To achieve this, the project had to act simultaneously on
three key levels: the site, the body, and the imagination.
First, recreating a sense of normality by placing the site within a familiar cultural context.
This guided the design of the yellow handrails and metalwork, inspired by the Art Deco forms
and patterns of the 1920s, when Paris’s first public swimming pools were celebrated
architectural achievements. At the time, in nearly all of them, yellow and blue were the colours
of leisure, holidays, and summer.
Although located at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, on the edge of a UNESCO World Heritage site,
the bathing area—discreetly nestled beneath plane and lime trees—never sought to compete
with the towers of Beaugrenelle. Thanks to its projection into the Seine, the site creates a new
and unique perspective from the river. This respectful dialogue between architecture and the
larger landscape convinced the City of Paris to grant us rare formal and chromatic freedom—far
more ambitious than what the original brief had anticipated.
Second, integrating from the outset the features needed to physically reassure the body.
This included a gentle, progressive entry into the water; areas for partial immersion; a shallow
pool for children; and semi-transparent canopies for sun protection all helped ease swimmers
into the experience. At the end of the swim route, open-air showers — light and breezy —
extended the feeling of freshness.
Third, sparking the imagination with an island. Dive in, swim across, reach the island—what
could be more instinctive and magnetic? Building this floating platform came with serious
technical and regulatory challenges. Yet the sight of swimmers climbing onto it with smiles on
their faces confirms that this seemingly modest structure is, in fact, a central element of the
project.
Bathing here is both an innovative and complex object. And yet, it is architecture that lies at the
heart of the project, while the technical and engineering aspects are simply means to an
end—not ends in themselves.
That said Mater Studio, together with the naval architects of Yacht Design Collective, who were
co-contractors on the river section of the project, developed advanced expertise to address the
constantly shifting levels of the Seine. The site is fully mobile and designed to adapt
continuously: the floating platform slides along vertical rails anchored to the quay with concealed
concrete blocks, while the two 25-metre pivoting walkways offer the gentlest possible slope to
ensure accessibility for all users. Stability studies enabled the design of a buoyancy system
capable of supporting up to 300 people at once, with no risk of deformation.
On both land and water, the site was designed to be fully dismantlable within 48 hours in
case of a flash flood. In normal operation, every piece is numbered and placed with precision
—like a giant Meccano set—allowing the installation to be disassembled and reassembled
swiftly, year after year.
Finally, the project reflects a minimal environmental footprint, both through the use of
repurposed shipping containers that have already travelled the world several times, and through
the use of robinia wood — the only European hardwood naturally resistant to moisture without
chemical treatment.
