During the fire, the roof of the cathedral was severely damaged and the spire collapsed in front of the crowd. Following this heart-wrenching fire, the French government announced that they would launch an international competition soon to design a new spire that “is adapted to the techniques and the challenges of our era”.

However, although the international competition has not officially been announced yet, international architects started to work on their proposals for the roof of the Notre-Dame to imagine the historic structure in futuristic and contemporary additions. 

UMA’s proposal draws attention more to “publicness” of the cathedral and a giant swimming pool spans the whole structure as “a new meditative space with unmatched views over Paris.”

“Our addition is a complementary spatial experience to the building that will match the awe of the great interior; a space for thinking and self-reflection,” said UMA describing their project. 

“The spire is gone, but the twelve statues of the apostles that where put away during the restoration and managed to escape the fire, are once again back at the roof, now as guardians around a large public pool that occupies the whole roof.”

The studio considers the swimming pool a good idea as they say the cathedral should belong to the urban fabric after this tragic fire.

“A cathedral is in our opinion not an isolated island in the urban fabric, it belongs to the city and to the people,” the studio added.

“The spire is gone, but the twelve statues of the apostles that where put away during the restoration and managed to escape the fire, are once again back at the roof,

“So now the twelve apostles could stand as guardians around a large public pool that occupies the whole roof.”

Source:  worldarchitecture.org