La cour intérieur de l'ENSA Paris-Malaquais et son ascenseur

École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Paris La Villette

The school

The ENSA Paris-La Villette offers a course that is at once theoretical and practical in scenography through the specialization option of Art, Scenography and Architecture (ASA), a significant division among the available options for the Master’s degree.

Created in 1969 (under the name ‘Study Unit in Architecture nº 6), the ENSA Paris-La Villette is the first school to have integrated scenography into the teaching of architecture. It is today the largest school of architecture in France, in terms of the number of enrolled students.

Presentation of the training

The center for Art, Scenography and Architecture (ASA), at the Master’s level, brings together teaching and research around the ideas of art, scenography and architecture, in an interdisciplinary structure incorporating a gaze unto the city (urban scenography, territorial art, topics related to scenography in the architectural and urban conception, pop-up urban exhibitions, city-oriented script writing) as much as onto the stage or screen (new readings or interpretations of urban space through artistic and cinematic production, questions of theatre staging and performance spaces, materiality of spaces and production of urban imagery, experimental film and video). The pedagogical approach relies on a critical view of the conditions of production in a city (either on stage or in the public sphere) and of architecture, both through a close assimilation of the many disciplines related to carrying out such projects (social sciences, arts, technology) and through an internationally oriented openness. The students involved in the Prague Quadrennial project are those in their fifth year.

Type of school

Public institution of administrative nature

Type of diploma

National diploma in Architecture, equivalent to the degree of Master

Admission requirements

Graduate holding a degree in architecture, or equivalent

Number of students per year

Between 20 and 25 students select the ASA option (in 4th or 5th year of studies)