Stéphanie Bru and Alexandre Theriot, founders of the architecture firm Bruther, present their work at the 31st edition of the Annual Architecture Lecture organized by London’s Royal Academy of Arts.

The Royal Academy’s 31st Annual Architecture Lecture speakers discuss designing buildings in public spaces that are functional, serve their inhabitants’ needs and endure change. The lecture explores the development of the Saint-Blaise Cultural and Sports Centre in Paris, which was nominated for the Mies van der Rohe Award in 2015. Located in the most densely populated district in Europe, the building has a reduced footprint and lifts almost 17 metres off the ground to extend an increasingly constrained pedestrian square. The practice describes the floors of the centre as ‘blank trays’, free from structure (and sometimes walls), ready to adapt to the users changing needs.