A pool to start the year with good intentions. Rounded windows and skylights which allow daylight to filter into this Parisian swimming pool, designed by the architect couple of Mikou Studio, which features a rooftop sun terrace, a green cover.

The co-founders of the study, Salwa and Selma Mikou, designed pool with a budget of 14.5 million euros to Aquasana, located in the suburb of Issy-les-Moulineaux, south-west of the capital. The architects worked with Feng Shui specialist Laurence Dujardin on the project, using the Chinese space-planning philosophy to determine the best way to orientate elements to create an uncluttered layout with an abundance of natural light.

Description of the project by Mikou Studio

We designed the building’s envelope to attenuate the linear effect of the massing and to introduce a variation in the visual perception according to the viewing angle. All the external walls are faced with undulating golden wooden slats that recall the circular movements on the surface of water and make reference to the circulation of energy and flows: the Feng Shui. We designed the Fort swimming pool in a spirit of fluidity and openness.

The development of the spaces gives priority to transparency and the depth of field associated with very good use of daylight. All the facades are open and accessible, and the various elements of the programme are organised in the form of light, coloured, rounded bubbles, floating on the project’s spatial continuum. Our design scheme emphasizes the roof as a determinant element of the Fort swimming pool providing  a solarium that is accessible via an indoor-outdoor ramp that runs along the swimming pools hall and provides access to the fifth facade.

Hemos diseñado la cubierta del edificio para atenuar el efecto lineal de la masificación construida y para introducir una variación en la percepción visual de acuerdo con el ángulo de visión. Todos los muros exteriores se enfrentan con ondulantes listones de madera dorados que recuerdan los movimientos circulares en la superficie del agua y hacen referencia a la circulación de la energía y de los flujos: el Feng Shui. Diseñamos la piscina Fort en un espíritu fluido y abierto.

El desarrollo de los espacios da prioridad a la transparencia y a la profundidad del campo asociado con el uso adecuado de la luz del día. Todas las fachadas son abiertas y accesibles, y los diversos elementos del programa se organizan según luz, colores, burbujas redondeadas, flotando en un continuo espacial del proyecto. Nuestro esquema de diseño haciendo hincapié en el techo como un elemento determinante de la piscina Fort proporcionando un solarium que es accesible a través de una rampa interior-exterior que se extiende a lo largo del pasillo de piscinas y ofrece acceso a la quinta fachada.

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Architects
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Collaborators
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Feng Shui specialist.- Laurence Dujardin. 
Structure.- Intégrale 4. 
Mechanicals.- Choulet. 
Economy.- Sletec. 
HQE.- Transfaire.

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Client
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City of Issy-les- Moulineaux, SPL Seine Ouest Aménagement.

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Area
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4,000 m².

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Dates
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Completed.- 2015.

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Location
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Ville d’Issy-les-Moulineaux, France.

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Programme
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Swimming pool, health club, solarium, squash courts, sauna, hammam.
 

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Photography
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Ville d’Issy-les-Moulineaux.

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Selma and Salwa Mikou are sisters and architects based in Paris. In 2005, they founded Mikou Architecture, a Franco-Moroccan studio that works at the intersection of architecture, cultural narratives, and materials research. They have collaborated with prominent architects such as Renzo Piano and Jean Nouvel.

Their work is structured around what they call an "Atlas of Resonance," a way of interpreting territories through their hidden layers: memory, geology, local histories, and artisanal traditions. From this perspective, architecture becomes a spatial and narrative device capable of revealing the latent resonances of a place. They are particularly interested in how construction itself can become a form of writing, a way of articulating relationships, revealing latent structures, and connecting with the cultural depth of a site.

Their work has been recognized with numerous awards and invitations to prestigious international competitions. It has been featured in various media outlets, including ARTE's Metropolis program and a monograph published by Quart Verlag.

Their recent projects include a mixed-use complex along the Garonne River in Bordeaux, conceived as a permeable urban composition; a cultural and business campus in Casablanca, integrated into repurposed industrial buildings; and a museum park in Normandy for a private collector.

They have taught both in France and abroad, including at the Architectural Association in London.

Salwa Mikou. Architect, Associate of Mikou Design Studio since 2005. She collaborated for 5 years, from 2001 to 2005, with Jean Nouvel on many international projects. From offices to housing in Beirut, Seoul and Paris to urban projects in Doha, Valencia or Rabat. She also takes part in a leisure complex in Kuwait City, a park in Barcelona, and an urban project for the Tanger harbour.

2012 MICQ consultant since January 2012
2011 Selected for the Europe 40 under 40 of 2011
2009 Training at IHEDATE, Institute of Advanced development studies and regional planning in Europe
2004 Further Education in Sustainable Development, Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne
2005 Creation of Mikou Design Studio
2001-2005 Project Manager at Ateliers Jean Nouvel, Paris
2001 Diploma in Urbanism, School of Architecture, Paris la Villette
2000 DPLG diploma, School of Architecture, Paris-Belleville

Selma Mikou. Architect, Associate of Mikou Design Studio since 2005. She collaborates for 4 years, from 2001 to 2004, with Renzo Piano on plenty of international projects such as offices and housing in London, urban projects in Abu Dhabi, the LACMA Museum in Los Angeles and the London Bridge Tower.

2011 Selected for the Europe 40 under 40 of 2011
2005 Creation of Mikou Design Studio
2001-2005 Project Manager at Renzo Piano
2001 Diploma in Urbanism, School of Architecture, Paris la Villette
2000 DPLG diploma, School of Architecture, Paris-Belleville

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Published on: January 7, 2016
Cite:
metalocus, INÉS LALUETA
"Feng Shui swimming pool by Mikou Studio" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/feng-shui-swimming-pool-mikou-studio> ISSN 1139-6415
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