Château d'eau de la Guérinière, Modern water tower in La Guérinière district, Caen, France.
The Château d'eau de la Guérinière is a water tower with sixteen concrete beams radiating from a central core, creating a distinctive elliptical silhouette in the city. The lower section incorporates shops and a garage, with thin vaults and glass panels that allow daylight to reach the commercial spaces below.
Designed by architect Guillaume Gillet and engineer René Sarger, the structure was built between 1955 and 1957 to supply water to nearby neighborhoods. It represents a post-war approach to combining essential utilities with integrated urban functions in a single architectural statement.
The structure stands as a major innovation in French industrial architecture, combining water storage capabilities with commercial space functions.
The structure sits on Place de la Justice and is clearly visible from street level throughout the neighborhood. While the lower commercial sections remain accessible, the upper water reservoir section is not open to visitors.
The structure stores approximately 3000 cubic meters of water, a significant feat of engineering for its era. The combination of water storage with ground-level commercial space was an innovative idea in the 1950s that showed how utility infrastructure could merge with everyday city life.
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