Center for worship culture, Paris

(Re)concile tradition and modernity

Situated on a plot of over 4000 square metres along the Seine, the future Russian Orthodox spiritual and cultural centre consists of a church with seating for to 500 people, a seminary to train future priests, a library, dwellings, offices, several multifunctional rooms and a vast garden. The mission of this spiritual and cultural centre is to transmit and share the orthodox church’s educational, theological, iconographic and musical tradition. Reception building and areas and exhibitions line the plot Seine-side. Accessible via a processional path that becomes a signal for the Pont de l’Alma, this folded sheet of white concrete houses the church in the middle of the plot, thus freeing up the listed façade of the neighbouring private house and the garden. A rectangular perforation provides the suggestion and glimpse of traditional forms, held within the pure, contemporary contour.