École Spéciale d'Architecture

The diploma from the École spéciale d'architecture (DESA), recognized by the State since 1934, entitles the holder to registration with the Order of Architects.

The school was founded in 1865 by engineer Emile Trélat as reaction against the educational monopoly of Beaux-Arts architecture[citation needed].

It was endorsed by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, a childhood friend, who after many infructuous attempts at reforming the École des Beaux-Arts had imagined the idea in 1863.

It has an international exchange student program with the Cal Poly Pomona College of Environmental Design, in California, United States, and with the University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, in Ohio, United States.

Notable students and staff include Ricardo Larraín Bravo, Pierre Karkar, Albert Besson, Jon Condoret, Jules Dormal Godet, Robert Mallet-Stevens, Farah Pahlavi, Auguste Perret, Henri Prost, Vartan Hovanessian, René Sergent, Luis Malausséna, Paul Virilio, and Christian de Portzamparc.