After the Journées du Patrimoine in September, it is the turn of the National Architecture Days, in October, to open the doors of museums, monuments, schools, private mansions and other remarkable buildings. This event returns each year to shine a spotlight on architecture in all its forms—its history, its major movements, and its artists.
In Paris and the Île-de-France region, several hundred venues are taking part in this cultural event, from October 15 to 18, 2026. It’s a chance to discover stunning architectural sites... as well as spaces and schools dedicated to this art. Thus, the Paris National School of Architecture invites us to tour several of its campuses.
Exhibitions, lectures, gatherings, workshops: architecture enthusiasts can enjoy a wealth of themed activities designed for all ages. Through these events, you’ll discover the secrets of the profession, you can admire both historic and distinctly modern works, you’ll meet the next generation of architecture talent... and you might even discover a calling!
Here is the program planned across the various ENSA schools in Paris. Be sure to check the admission conditions: some events may be paid or accessible only by reservation.
Paris-Belleville School
Open House at ENSA Paris-Belleville
As part of the National Architecture Days, ENSA Paris-Belleville opens its doors and hosts a series of events around the theme “Rehabilitate: Building the Future.”
From 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., students invite you to discover their school and view its spaces through a fresh lens. They will showcase work focused on the quality of welcome, examined at multiple scales—from the city to architecture and furniture—and across different timeframes, from the building’s history to short- and mid-term transformations.
At the heart of the presentation, a scale-model furniture piece designed and built by the students unfolds the entire project process: field surveys, archival research, and the formulation of intervention hypotheses.
A collective reflection on how to welcome, inhabit, and evolve the School’s spaces.
You will also have the chance to discover the end-of-study projects from the second semester, showcased in an exhibition within the School.
Participation conditions: Free | No reservation required
Hours: Saturday, October 17, 2026 — 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Transform Your Building
Children aged 7 to 12 will have the opportunity to explore architecture by taking part in one of the two scale-model workshops offered by CAUE75 on the theme "Transform Your Building!"
Participation conditions: Limited to 15 children - Free | Booking required - https://www.caue75.fr/programme-en-famille/1-transforme-ton-immeuble
Schedules : Saturday, October 17, 2026 — 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM, 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM
Paris-La Villette School
Building a Book: A Photographic Project
During his architecture studies at ENSA Paris-la Villette, the student is given the chance to discover and dive into photography, developing ideas and practices at the very heart of the medium: analog technique, storytelling, and the making of a book.
The exhibition “Building a Book: A Photographic Project” brings together work by 150 students from the school, created between 2010 and 2025 within a Master-level photography course. The projects take the form of a self-published book, accompanied by photographic prints.
“Because a book is also a construction,” writes historian Michel Frizot.
The student embarks on a personal photographic project, freely choosing the subject and the technique (analog/digital, color/black-and-white, etc.). He observes, develops his point of view, and bears witness to his status as student—citizen and future architect. The pedagogical project becomes the cultivation of a gaze—a gaze on oneself, on others, or on distant places—that challenges the codes of photography that keeps growing more iconic and “derealized.”
The exhibition revolves around five themes, deliberately spread throughout the gallery space: “Through the City”, where the student sharpens his view of architecture and urban flows. In “Breathing Space”, he satisfies his urge to escape through getaways and longer trips. “Melancholy” reveals his ties to the past, family connections, geographic distance, and self-reflection and intimacy. “Everyday Life” chronicles the student’s life at home, at school, and with others. Finally, “Photographic Recesses” showcases the discovery of the medium through a range of visual experiments.
At the curator Hervé Jézéquel’s request, head of the image department and pedagogical contributor, the exhibition presents nearly 150 books and around 160 photographs, all produced in-house specifically for the occasion.
The exhibition runs from September 16 to October 17, 2026, Monday to Friday 10 a.m.–7 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Free admission.
The opening reception is open to all on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, at 6 p.m.
This exhibition is labeled “Bicentennial of Photography” by the Ministry of Culture and forms part of the official Bicentennial programming from September 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027.
Participation requirements: Free | No reservation required
Hours: Thursday, October 15, 2026 — 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. | Friday, October 16, 2026 — 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. | Saturday, October 17, 2026 — 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Correspondences: Villa Savoye, from its conception to its consecration
At the end of the summer of 1928, Pierre and Eugénie Savoye decide to have a country house built on their Poissy property, entrusting the project to Le Corbusier. The Savoye family soon notices defects in the construction. After the war, the villa becomes uninhabitable and is left to decay. Alarmed by Poissy’s plan to demolish the building, architects from around the world rally to form a committee to save it. In 1959, Culture Minister André Malraux moves to preserve the villa, which the town agrees to transfer to the State along with a one-hectare plot. Restoration begins in 1963, and in 1965 the villa is classified as a Historic Monument, just months after the architect’s death.
Young actors from the Cours Florent present a theatrical reading of Le Corbusier’s correspondence in which the architect defends, against his critics, the technical and aesthetic choices he made for Villa Savoye. Voice by Marlène Da Rocha, a lecturer at the Cours Florent.
Participation terms: The theatrical reading will be held in Auditorium 11 at the school. - Free | No reservation required
Schedule: Friday, October 16, 2026 — 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Paris-La Villette School – Ardennes satellite site
Renovations of the Villa Savoye: a challenge for generations of architects
In addition to the exhibition “Decoding the Villa Savoye”, which the public can view from October 17 to November 14, 2026, at Villa Savoye in Poissy, the Master 2 students of the École nationale supérieure d’architecture de Paris-La Villette — from the seminar “Built Cultural Heritage: Expertise and Reuse in France and Abroad” (directed by Iona Iosa and Cristina Sanchez Algarra) — are pleased to invite you to a talk-and-debate on the numerous restorations the Villa Savoye has undergone from the 1960s to today.
These restorations also offer a timely occasion to examine state intervention in restoring historic monuments, the diverse professions involved in architecture and heritage, and, more broadly, to discuss the ecological, political, and social challenges of preserving exceptional buildings and sites.
With the participation of:
* Laurent Alberti, Chief Architect and Urbanist of the State, Conservator of National Monuments, Centre des Monuments Nationaux
* Matthieu Gillet, Chief Architect for Historic Monuments / Heritage Architect
* Bénédicte Gandini, historian with the Le Corbusier Foundation and the Secretariat of the International Permanent Conference
* Elisabeth Marie-Victoire, engineer at MCC-LRMH, State Scientific and Technical Control
The event is organized in partnership with the Centre des Monuments Nationaux.
Conditions de participation : Coffee welcome from 1:30 PM. The panel discussion will begin at 2:00 PM. - Free | No reservation required
Schedule: Friday, October 16, 2026 — 1:30 PM to 5:00 PM
Paris-Val de Seine School
Exhibition “From one semester to the next: between vision and realization”
The exhibition "From one semester to the next: between vision and realization" aims to showcase the project work produced at ENSA Paris-Val de Seine during the second semester of the 2025/26 academic year.
By succinctly grouping the outcomes of the bachelor groups, it seeks to make explicit the instructors’ choices regarding project-based learning, their priorities, and in particular the role assigned to cross-disciplinary teaching. It thus invites a collective reflection on these courses and their possible evolution.
Conditions of participation: Free | No reservation required
Hours: Friday, October 16, 2026 — 9:30 AM to 9:30 PM
Exhibition “Graphic Narrative – Dispossession: Health Literacy in Housing”
Matthieu Chiara highlights residents' interview material and life situations drawn from field research through a graphic narrative titled “Dispossession. Health literacy in housing and the management of the living space.” Exhibitions of the comic’s panels.
Participation terms: Free | No reservation required
Hours: Friday, October 16, 2026 — 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Michel Poivert Lecture: The Paradigm of Recording — 200 Years in Contact with Reality
This conference follows a prior inquiry titled “the turn of analog culture,” which identified the neo-analog sensibility among contemporary photographers and sought to place it within a broader phenomenon—the analog culture that stands as the counterpart to our digital era in the age of AI. The second part of the reflection aims to develop two strands: the central importance of the notion of recording in analog culture and the question of what could constitute an ontology of photography “without an image.”
Participation requirements: Free | No reservation required
Schedule: Friday, October 16, 2026 — 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM
3D Printing Workshop
FabLab demonstrates 3D creations.
Participation conditions: Free | No reservation required
Schedule: Friday, October 16, 2026 – 6:00 PM to 9:30 PM
Architectural tours of the school
ENSA Paris-Val de Seine consists of a seven-story contemporary building and the rehabilitated former 19th-century compressed-air factory. This architectural ensemble was designed by architect Frédéric Borel, recipient of the 2010 Grand Prix of Architecture.
Participation requirements: Free | No reservation required
Schedule: Friday, October 16, 2026 — 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Creative workshop
As part of the JNA, the school invites the public to explore the theme of rehabilitation. To this end, participants will take possession of the models and other documents created by the students, transforming them into new architectures. From 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., open to all audiences—free with registration: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=NNoX1M-8S0ezEEkSOlHbwxvuc9T5zHlBhOXUlaPVwMhUQk1CU1A0VEtTWUZNNVhWNFEzTUZQTUQ1Ty4u
Participation conditions: Free of charge | Reservation required - https://forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=NNoX1M-8S0ezEEkSOlHbwxvuc9T5zHlBhOXUlaPVwMhUQk1CU1A0VEtTWUZNNVhWNFEzTUZQTUQ1Ty4u
Schedule: Friday, October 16, 2026 — 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
A busy weekend is shaping up in Paris! Architecture buffs won't want to miss it.
Dates and Opening Time
From October 15, 2026 to October 18, 2026
Location
Ecole nationale supérieure d'architecture Paris-Belleville
60 Boulevard de la Villette
75019 Paris 19
Route planner
Official website
journeesarchitecture.culture.gouv.fr
