Centre National de la Danse

The Centre National de la Danse is a massive slab of brutalist concrete hovering over the Ourcq Canal. Jacques Kalisz designed this building in nineteen seventy-two to serve as the administrative center for the city of Pantin. He envisioned it as a total environment for citizens, packing offices, a library, and public spaces into a rigid geometric grid. When officials abandoned the headquarters in the nineties, dancers moved in, turning the former bureaucratic offices into some of the most striking rehearsal studios in Europe.