Little information remains about this competition, which was eventually abandoned. In the drawing done by Claude Parent, this cultural center combines the functions of a house of religion (a synagogue), with those of a typical community center (swimming pool, reception room and a function room) and a library. The building would have had two long façades facing the street on the corner of the boulevard de Reims and the rue de Courcelles in the 17th arrondissement of Paris. The architect did several studies in which the library and the prayer room were facing each other. At first he attempted to design “architecture that speaks,” relying on the symbolic power of the program (library in the form of a double scroll). However, the façades in the last version of the project are more traditional (alternating concrete and glass) and only the curves in the two cupolas hint at the purpose of the place.
Audrey Jeanroy
