The only Olympic-size public swimming pool in Brussels is named after Louis Namèche, the minister for public health who opened a large number of swimming pools and sports centres across the country between 1968 and 1971. It was built by the architectural trio Raoul Brunswyck, Odon Wathelet and Henri Aelbrecht in 1969. With their complementary personalities, the three worked together over a long period: Brunswyck, more of a salesperson, was responsible for dealing with clients; Wathelet was the technician; and Aelbrecht the artist/draughtsperson. Brunswyck and Wathelet were partners and in 1965 set up their office at number 31, Avenue de Villegas/de Villegaslaan in Ganshoren, in an extension to a row of four buildings they had built in the late 1950s. The swimming pool bears the hallmarks of brutalism, with its massive forms and ‘raw’ materials, leaving the supporting structure of the building visible. The façades are finished in a variety of materials: bricks with oblique joints, grooved, textured and smooth concrete. Brunswyck and Wathelet’s architecture is characterised by a distinct taste for detail and ornamentation, sometimes verging on the Baroque. At the top, a series of impressive rectangular perforated modules act as effective sunshades. Outside, the concrete fountain basins (no longer in use) are fed by a monumental concrete gargoyle. The entrance features a red tubular railing with an almost whiplash-like movement, while inside, the aluminium doors and their double-cross frames are original.