École Spéciale d'Architecture

The red brick facade of the École Spéciale d'Architecture on boulevard Raspail stands out against the pale stone buildings of the fourteenth arrondissement. Founded in eighteen sixty-five, the school began as a private alternative to the rigid, state-run Beaux-Arts tradition. When the architect Emile Trélat broke away from the establishment, he wanted to teach students how to think about space and materials through a lens of individual invention. That spirit of defiance remains built into the walls of this urban campus.