Aix-en-Provence - CREPS Gymnasium
- department: Bouches-du-Rhône
- town: Aix-en-Provence
- naming: CREPS Gymnasium
- address : Pont de l'Arc, chemin de la Guiramande
- authors: Fernand POUILLON, René EGGER (architects), Jean PROUVE (engineer)
- date: 1951
- protection: unprotected building
- label patrimoine XXe: Commission régionale du patrimoine et des sites (CRPS) of 28 November 2000
Built on the site of the bastides of the Madeleine and Grimaldi at the Pont de l'Arc, some 18th century elements have been preserved, the gymnasium of the Centre Régional d'Education Physique et Sportive (CREPS) is the result of the collaboration of René Egger, Fernand Pouillon (1912-1986), for architecture, and Jean Prouvé (1901-1984), for carpentry and furniture. After the Second World War, René Egger was appointed architect-consultant to the National Education: he obtained, with his partner Fernand Pouillon, several commissions of schools and educational facilities.
The gymnasium presents itself as a 10-metre-high block, whose tiles, north and south, as well as the rows of furrowed bricks, on the other two sides, ensure the decoration. It is located at the edge of the ground, and is surmounted by a copper roof with four slopes and wide overhang. A covered gallery decorated with ceramic tiles serves the changing rooms. As often with Pouillon, the functionality of the place is embellished with decorative elements, such as the outer calades (here pebbled floor), or the ceramics of Philippe Sourdive and the stained glass window of the staircase of the reception pavilion.
- Editor: Eve Roy, drac paca crmh, 2005