The École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Versailles commonly referred to as the ENSAV, is a leading French architectural school located at the ancient stables of the

Versailles Palace The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 19 ...

. It is an associate member of the University Paris-Saclay. The pedagogical aim of the National Architecture School of Versailles is to provide an intense experience in the architectural arts while developing questions of architecture in the fields of building, city and regional planning. The school prepares students using diverse professional exercise methods and its specially known for its

urban design Urban design is an approach to the design of buildings and the spaces between them that focuses on specific design processes and outcomes. In addition to designing and shaping the physical features of towns, cities, and regional spaces, urban d ...

teachings. The school is listed among the 50 best European architecture schools according to '' Domus'' since the beginning of this ranking established in 2013.

History

The school was founded in 1969 as a division of the

École des beaux-arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centur ...

architecture section. Architect

Jean Castex Jean Castex (; born 25 June 1965) is a French politician who was the country's Prime Minister from 3 July 2020 to 16 May 2022. He was a member of The Republicans (LR) until 2020, when he joined La République En Marche! (LREM). Castex served f ...

was one of the school's founders, while Nicolas Michelin (co-founder of the group Labfac) was the managing director from 2001 to 2009. The current dean is the architect Jean-Christophe Quinton.

Former students

Jeanne Gang Jeanne Gang (born March 19, 1964) is an American architect and the founder and leader of Studio Gang (established in 1997), an architecture and urban design practice with offices in Chicago, New York, and San Francisco. Gang was first widely re ...

* Moussa Mostafa Moussa * Christine Leconte * Catherine Furet * Clément Blanchet * Anne Démians * Pascal Gontier * Jean-Pierre Pranlas-Descours *

Nicolas Godin Nicolas Godin (born 25 December 1969) is a French musician best known for being half of the music duo Air. Early life Godin was born in Paris, Île-de-France, France, and studied architecture at the École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture ...

* François Roche

Facilities of the school

*3 applied research laboratories *1 documentation center and library *1 model workshop *1 photo development laboratory *1 photo studio *3 multimedia rooms *1 computer room *1 digital workshop *1 amphitheater *1 auditorium *1 restaurant *1 café *2 exhibition spaces "La Rotonde" and "La Forge" *1 Large nave, "La Nef" (venue for workshops, exhibitions, educational experiments) *1 modern exhibition center " La Maréchalerie" *studios

Research and theory

Research centers

The Léav is the research center of the school. It has participated in the foundation of the PATRIMA laboratory. The latter is a member of the SHS (

University of Paris-Saclay Paris-Saclay University (french: Université Paris-Saclay) is a public research university based in Paris, France. It is one of the 13 prestigious universities that emerged from the division of the University of Paris, also known as the Sorbonne. ...

) doctoral school. LADRHAUS and GRAI are two other research laboratories of the ENSAV. It organizes public conferences of researchers and theoreticians: Jean-Pierre Chupin, William J.R. Curtis, Antoine Grumbach ... Board members: Jean Castex, David Mangin, Frédéric Borel,

Gilles Clément Gilles Clément (born at Argenton-sur-Creuse, Indre, France in 1943), is a French gardener, garden designer, botanist, entomologist and writer. He is the author of several concepts in the framework of landscaping of the end of the twentieth cent ...

Jorge Orta Jorge Orta Núñez (born November 26, 1950) is a Mexican former professional baseball second baseman and outfielder. He played fifteen seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1972 to 1987 for the Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Los An ...

Antoine Picon Antoine (Maurice Joseph Charles) Picon (born 8 March 1957) is a 20th-/21st-century French professor of the History of Architecture and technology and co-director of Doctoral Programs ( PhD & DDes) at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He teach ...

Paola Viganò Paola Viganò (born 1961 in Sondrio, Italy), is an italian architect and urbanist, currently professor at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and at the University of Venice (IUAV). Career Viganò received a PhD in architectur ...

, Jean-Philippe Vassal.

Publications

The ENSAV publishes books and research conclusions via its edition unit. * Research Publications : ''Urban Forms: Death and Life of the Urban Block'' This major publication by

, Philippe Panerai and Jean-Charles Depaule (teachers of the school) had its first edition in French in 1977. It has been recently translated and edited in English for the first time in 2003 with an additional postscript. Galerie des Sculptures Versailles

* The annual "Yearbook" shows students work as well as teacher's writings and leading figures interviews related to architecture. Its development is part of the master thesis "Experimental processes, arts and media". * The review EAV (Enseignement Architecture Ville) was created by Anne-Marie Chatelet and Michel Denes in 1995. It is published annually. The number 10th of the review (2004–2005) explained its history and origins. This same issue was based on journals and reviews from Zurich's Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule. *ENSAV also supported the creation of the PLI magazine led by former school student Christopher Dessus. *Le Pavé is a blog run by a masters' association renewed every year. Its purpose is to disseminate reflections, research or architectural criticism.

International

The school has agreements with more than 36 universities worldwide. Each year, the ensav organises international workshops around the world (Isaphan, Dakar, Kyoto, Rome, Rio, Delft, Shangai, Casablanca...). In 2016, the school collaborates with the EPFL to build an international experimentation project : "HOUSE 1/12 cities". They created a wood structure built at the Lausanne campus and then in Versailles. More than 200 people took part in this project. Each year, an renowned artist is invited to conduct a four-weeks workshop with students. Past editions have been supervised by Hans Walter Muller,

Tadashi Kawamata Tadashi Kawamata ( ja, 川俣正 / born July 24, 1953) is a Japanese artist, born in Mikasa City on Hokkaido, who lives and works in Paris. Biography Born in Mikasa City on Hokkaido, Kawamata graduated from Hokkaido Iwamizawa Higashi High S ...

Campana brothers The Campana Brothers, consisting of Humberto Campana (born 1953) and Fernando Campana (1961–2022) are Brazilian furniture designers. They stated that Lina Bo Bardi and Oscar Niemeyer were some of the big names who had a concrete influence on t ...

, Miquel Barcelo, Lucy et Jorge Orta or Tomas Saraceno. The ENSAV offers a dual master's degree entitled "Ecological Urbanism" with the

Tongji University Tongji University () is a comprehensive public research university located in Shanghai. Established in 1907 by the German government together with German physicians in Shanghai, Tongji is one of the longest-standing, most selective, and most pr ...

in China.

International events

The ENSAV hosts and organizes various international events : - Modern art exhibitions in its own museum : La Maréchalerie. - Lectures :

Kengo Kuma is a Japanese architect and professor in the Department of Architecture (Graduate School of Engineering) at the University of Tokyo. Frequently compared to contemporaries Shigeru Ban and Kazuyo Sejima, Kuma is also noted for his prolific writin ...

Christian de Portzamparc Christian de Portzamparc (; born 5 May 1944) is a French architect and urbanist. He graduated from the École Nationale des Beaux Arts in Paris in 1970 and has since been noted for his bold designs and artistic touch; his projects reflect a ...

, Marc Barani,

Odile Decq Odile Decq (born 1955 in Laval, France) is a French architect, urban planner and academic. She is the founder of the Paris firm, Studio Odile Decq and the architecture school, Confluence Institute. Decq is known for her unique, self-described g ...

, David Basulto (Archdaily founder), Chaix et Morel, X-TU architects, Rudy Riciotti, Frederic Borel, Abraham Poincheval, Mathieu Lehanneur,

Paul Andreu Paul Andreu (10 July 1938 – 11 October 2018) was a French architect, known for his designs of multiple airports such as Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, and multiple prestigious projects in China, including the National Centre for the Per ...

, David Van Severen(teacher at the school), Jakob + Macfarlane,

Felice Varini Felice Varini (born in Locarno in 1952) is a Paris-based, Swiss artist who was nominated for the 2000/2001 Marcel Duchamp Prize. Mostly known for his geometric perspective-localized paintings in rooms and other spaces, using projector-stencil tec ...

, Clément Blanchet (former student),

Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster (born 30 June 1965, in Strasbourg) is a French visual artist and educator. She is known for her work in video projection, photography, and art installations. She has worked in landscaping, design, and writing. "I alw ...

, , Régis Roudil (invited teacher at the school)

Laurent Grasso Laurent Grasso (born 1972) is a French conceptual artist living and working in Paris. Biography Laurent Grasso is the recipient of the esteemed Order of Arts and Letters by the French Ministry of Culture and the prestigious Marcel Duchamp P ...

, Patrick Bouchain, Jean Rodet (former student), Duncan Lewis,

Yann Kersalé Yann Kersalé (born 17 February 1955) is a French conceptual artist who works with light. His studio is in Vincennes. Life and career Kersalé was born in Boulogne-Billancourt,Some sources, for example the biography in ''L'Art dans la ville: ave ...

, Klaus Pinter, Nicolas Dorval-Bory (teacher at the school), Richard Copans, Djamel Klouche (teacher at the school), Jean-Paul Jungmann, Bertrand Lamarche, Thomas Raynaud (teacher at the school), Mark Alizart, Kasper T.Toeplitz,

Bruno Latour Bruno Latour (; 22 June 1947 – 9 October 2022) was a French philosopher, anthropologist and sociologist.Wheeler, Will. ''Bruno Latour: Documenting Human and Nonhuman Associations'' Critical Theory for Library and Information Science. Libraries ...

, Jean Castex, NP2F, Pascal Gontier (former student), Sébastien Martinez Barat (teacher at the school), Tanja Herdt, Matthias Armengaud(AWP, former student and teacher at the school), Éric Lapierre... - Design Modeling Symposium : DSM17. This symposium offered classes, lectures, exhibitions and workshops under the topic "Humanizing digital reality". Some of the lecturers were

Carlo Ratti Carlo Ratti (born 1971 in Turin, Italy) is an Italian architect, engineer, inventor, educator and activist. He is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he directs the MIT Senseable City Lab, a research group that explo ...

, Arthur Mamou Mani,

Philippe Rahm Philippe Rahm (born 1967) Dipl. EPFL - Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne - Switzerland 1993 is a principal architect in the office of ''Philippe Rahm architectes'', based in Paris, France. His work, which extends the field of architecture ...

(ENSAV teacher). - Bap ! First Paris region biennale in 2019.

References

External links

École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Versailles, official website

Léav Laboratoire de l’école nationale supérieure d’architecture de Versailles, official website

La Maréchalerie, modern art museum of the ENSAV, official website

Jean Castex

Nicolas Michelin

Labfac
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ecole Nationale Superieure D'architecture De Versailles

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, ...

Architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

Universities and colleges in Versailles 1969 establishments in France Educational institutions established in 1969 Versailles