The new Parisian Saturday morning? Laps instead of brunch. At La Fondation, the members-only athletic club hides a 25-meter pool in a Roman & Williams-designed setting, flanked by fitness studios, a sauna, and a hammam. The local public pool—but make it Roman & Williams.
Saturday mornings in Paris have their rituals: the market, coffee on the terrace, pilates, and, for the braver souls, a jog through the Batignolles. Now, there is another to add to the list: a few laps in the pool.
At 40 rue Legendre, La Fondation has done much more than simply install a gym in its five-star hotel. Its Club de Sport & Spa, accessible by membership, adopts the codes of an exclusive members’ club: five studios, over 110 group classes a week, Technogym equipment, a climbing wall, recovery areas, and, above all, a 25-meter swimming pool.
The interior, envisioned by the New York studio Roman & Williams, effortlessly blurs the line between high-performance training and the art of living.
The perfect Saturday morning practically writes itself. A Borneo Paris swimsuit in your bag, phone left in the locker, and a few quiet laps before easing into the sauna or hammam. The club opens at 8 a.m. on weekends, leaving plenty of time to slip away before Paris even begins to wake.
