Presentation
A school for the transformation of practices and professions
Through a varied range of training courses, ENSAL supports the evolution of architectural professions. It awards national diplomas in architecture conferring the grades of licence, master, the architecture mention of the doctorate of the University of Lyon, as well as the habilitation to project management in its own name giving access to the title of Architect, and the co-accredited master ville et environnements urbains of the University of Lyon 2.
A school for transforming cities and buildings
Through teaching and research, ENSAL addresses architectural design, the transformation of existing buildings, uses, eco-design and metropolization.
A pioneer in the establishment of dual architect-engineer and engineer-architect curricula in France thirty years ago, ENSAL has developed pedagogical partnerships of excellence with three major engineering schools in the Lyon metropolis: the École nationale des travaux publics de l'État - ENTPE, the Institut national des sciences appliquées - INSA de Lyon and the École centrale de Lyon.
In addition, ENSAL is co-piloting the campus des métiers et des qualifications " Urbanism and construction: towards the smart city ", in partnership with secondary schools and the École nationale des travaux publics d'État. This initiative aims to promote educational pathways from bac-3 to bac+3.
With the Grands Ateliers d'Architecture in Villefontaine, ENSAL promotes architectural training through experimentation and prototyping on a scale of 1.
A school rooted in the local area
It is part of the network of twenty-one establishments in charge of public architectural education in France.
Member of the Université de Lyon, a university group with a student body of nearly 150,000, ENSAL is also a member of the Conférence des Grandes Écoles.
In addition, it is an integral part of the Vaulx-en-Velin campus with ENTPE and Builders, and a privileged partner of the town of Vaulx-en-Velin. It contributes to the academic and scientific influence of the Metropole de Lyon, the City of Lyon and the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region, which support its projects in France and abroad.
School history
Heir to the Royal School of Drawing founded in the 18th century, and to the creation in 1906 of the Lyon Regional School of Architecture, in charge of training architects, ENSAL has been a public institution of higher education since 1968. It carries out its teaching and research missions under the joint supervision of the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation.
Initially based at the Palais des Beaux-arts in Lyon, then in Écully, ENSAL finally moved to Vaulx-en-Velin in 1988. The current campus is a university campus shared with the École nationale des travaux publics de l'État - ENTPE, thus forming the campus dedicated to the construction and planning of cities and territories.
Vaulx-en-Velin Campus
The building was designed in 1987 by architects Françoise- Hélène Jourda and Gilles Perraudin. Designed to capture a maximum amount of light, the building is organized around an interior street, articulating the school's various living spaces. On the concrete first floor, classrooms adjoin the amphitheater, research laboratories, library and community bar.
The wood and glass second floor is dedicated to workshops, with master's workshops to the east and bachelor's workshops to the west.
To the north, an extension for classrooms and workshops was created in 2011. In 2017, the LFA agency builds 'AckLab, the school's FabLab.
Awards
The work of the two architects was rewarded with a special mention in the Équerre d'argent prize in 1987, the year of its construction. A veritable architectural manifesto, the Lyon School of Architecture stands out as one of the most singular public buildings of the 1980s. It is a symbol of the state's reinvestment in the training of architects. In 2020, ENSAL was awarded the " Architecture contemporaine remarquable ".
Assia Djebar Campus
The Assia Djebar Campus is a shared facility at the heart of the urban regeneration project in Vaulx-en-Velin. The project reflects a commitment to developing education and training in the area and to fostering a vibrant campus atmosphere.
The building, with a floor area of 2,000 m², is being constructed by the architectural practice Tectoniques, commissioned by the town of Vaulx-en-Velin. It will comprise a lecture theatre, teaching rooms, offices and meeting rooms shared with the town of Vaulx-en-Velin. Built on the Hôtel de Ville ZAC site, it will house part of ENSAL’s teaching programmes, the town’s Youth and Student Life Department, and the Campus des Métiers et des Qualifications (CMQ) ‘Urban Planning and Construction: Towards a Smart City’ programme. The Builders engineering school will be based in a nearby building.
Completion is scheduled for spring 2027.
