The École Spéciale d'Architecture is a private school for architecture

Architecture

Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...

 at 254, boulevard Raspail in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

The school was founded in 1865 by engineer Emile Trélat as reaction against the educational monopoly of Beaux-Arts architecture. It was endorsed by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc

Eugène Viollet-le-Duc

Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc was a French architect and theorist, famous for his interpretive "restorations" of medieval buildings. Born in Paris, he was a major Gothic Revival architect.-Early years:...

 who had abandoned his attempts to reform the Ecole des Beaux-Arts

École des Beaux-Arts

École des Beaux-Arts refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The most famous is the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, now located on the left bank in Paris, across the Seine from the Louvre, in the 6th arrondissement. The school has a history spanning more than 350 years,...

, and who became one of its original stockholders, along with other notables including Ferdinand de Lesseps

Ferdinand de Lesseps

Ferdinand Marie, Vicomte de Lesseps, GCSI was the French developer of the Suez Canal, which joined the Mediterranean and Red Seas in 1869, and substantially reduced sailing distances and times between the West and the East.He attempted to repeat this success with an effort to build a sea-level...

, Anatole de Baudot, Eugène Flachat

Eugène Flachat

Eugène Flachat was a French civil engineer, remembered today for redesigning the Gare Saint-Lazare railway station in Paris in 1851 and other railroad related projects. A street in Paris is named after him and his name appears on the Eiffel tower....

, Dupont de l'Eure, Jean-Baptiste André Godin

Jean-Baptiste André Godin

Jean-Baptiste André Godin was a French industrialist, writer and political theorist, and social innovator. A manufacturer of cast-iron stoves and influenced by Charles Fourier, he developed and built an industrial and residential community within Guise called the Familistère...

, and Émile Muller

Émile Muller

Émile Muller was a French politician from Alsace. He was the candidate of the Democratic Socialist Movement of France in the French presidential election, 1974, where he won only 0.69% of the vote....

.

Even at its beginning it included innovative courses such as domestic hygiene

Hygiene

Hygiene refers to the set of practices perceived by a community to be associated with the preservation of health and healthy living. While in modern medical sciences there is a set of standards of hygiene recommended for different situations, what is considered hygienic or not can vary between...

 and urban public health

Public health

Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...

. It was officially recognized as providing "public utility" in 1870, and recognized by the state as an institution of higher education

Higher education

Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...

 in 1934.

Today the school issues the DESA degree, recognized by the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

, and is organized into five departments: Architecture and Environment, Visual Arts and Representation, History and Human Science, Building Science and Technology, and Computer applications and Communications. It is a "free school" governed in part by its students and alumni. Major decisions are taken by the administrative council and the general assembly consisting of students, alumni, teaching staff, and administrators. It has an international exchange student program with the Cal Poly Pomona College of Environmental Design

Cal Poly Pomona College of Environmental Design

The California State Polytechnic University, Pomona College Environmental Design also known as the Cal Poly Pomona College of Environmental Design is one of Cal Poly Pomona's seven colleges. The college houses over 1,600 students; making it one of largest environmental design programs in the...

, in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Notable students and staff have included Albert Besson

Albert Besson

Albert Besson was a French hygienist, physician and member of the French Academy of Medicine.-Biography:In 1916, as officer cadet, he was seriously injured at the fort Vaux, during the battle of Verdun, after saving wounded soldiers, and at first, was considered as dead *.On the way to recovery,...

, Robert Mallet-Stevens

Robert Mallet-Stevens

Robert Mallet-Stevens was a French architect and designer. Along with Le Corbusier he is widely regarded as the most influential figure in French architecture in the period between the two World Wars....

, Farah Pahlavi

Farah Pahlavi

Farah Pahlavi is the former Queen and Empress of Iran. She is the widow of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, and only Empress of modern Iran...

, Auguste Perret

Auguste Perret

Auguste Perret was a French architect and a world leader and specialist in reinforced concrete construction. In 2005 his post-WWII reconstruction of Le Havre was declared by UNESCO one of the World Heritage Sites....

, Henri Prost

Henri Prost

Henri Prost was a French architect and town planner. He was noted in particularly for his work in Morocco and designed a number of city streets and buildings between 1914 and 1922, including Casablanca, Fès, Marrakech, Meknès and Rabat.He was the co-founder in 1911 of the French Society of...

, René Sergent

René Sergent

René Sergent was a noted French architect.-Biography:Sergent was trained at the École spéciale d'architecture, where he concentrated on French architecture of the 18th century but also studied British contemporaries such as Robert Adam, then entered the architectural office of Ernest Sanson where...

, Paul Virilio

Paul Virilio

Paul Virilio is a cultural theorist and urbanist. He is best known for his writings about technology as it has developed in relation to speed and power, with diverse references to architecture, the arts, the city and the military....

, and Christian de Portzamparc

Christian de Portzamparc

Christian de Portzamparc 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 sensibility to their environment and the town is a founding principal of his...

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