Icons usually become as such over many years, probably decades, but occasionally there’s design that is so blisteringly captivating that it can achieve that status pretty much overnight, Les Bains Des Docks – Jean Nouvel’s Roman thermal baths inspired aquatic centre in Le Havre, France – is very much an example of such a thing, a true modern icon. Opening in 2008, the centre – a part of a programme by the city to revitalize its docks and warehouse district – elegantly throws around boxes, clean edges and random shapes to offer a wonderful, kind of 8-bit architectural fantasy with the brilliant stark white only being broken by the bright coloured boxes of the children’s play area. Fantastically original, breathtakingly conceived and oh so iconic, Jean Nouvel’s Les Bains Des Docks is a staggeringly beautiful building that quite simply demands your attention…
Photography: Clément Guillaume
