Bruther / Saint Blaise

The Saint-Blaise cultural and sports center (Centre Paris Anim’ Wangari Maathai) is not only one of the first projects built by Bruther, but it is also the one that is geographically closest to their offices. It is located in one of the most dense and popular districts of the capital, marked by a somewhat defaced urbanism of the 1980s (concrete blocks and pedestrianized streets). The architects have always thought of it as an open and appropriable structure, which can be understood from the very permeable ground floor. Today the building has, in a way, become independent of the project’s intentions. It has become a new pole of attraction. The building is nothing more than a tool to respond to the demands of users who arrive, each with their own stories, their own desires. But things don’t just happen inside. The small square in front of the building often becomes an agora for organized or spontaneous events. The center is a neighborhood facility, which will evolve over time, and which allows architecture to radiate towards societal concerns.