Lycée Français de New York
New York, New York
158,000 square feet
2003

The new home for the Lycée Français unifies this preK-12 school, which was previously housed in five separate buildings. The design has been informed by the richness, rigor and order of the Lycée’s pedagogy. Inspiration was sought in the French architectural tradition that traces its conceptual roots to the Age of Enlightenment and Cartesian rationalism. Spatial variety, rational planning principles and sectional organization, attention to proportion, façade syncopation, expressed structure and materials are unified in a dynamic framework. A design objective has been to achieve a synthetic integration of interior planning with exterior expression. The overall spatial organization of the building and its exterior articulation are intended to convey a Cartesian ordering of the program as well as a three dimensional expression of the building’s structural systems and spatial organization.

The building, located on a thru-block site on the Upper East Side in Manhattan, is comprised of two five-story structures connected by three full-lot floors and a north-south bridge at the second level with a central courtyard. Shared school-wide program spaces such as libraries, cafeteria, auditorium and gymnasia unify the school at the three lower levels. The central space at each level collectively acts as the heart of the Lycée, providing an opportunity to define a true French Cultural Center for the school. The Grand Escalier leads to the three hundred-seat auditorium, which is accessed through a double-height lobby. Unifying the overall design is a framework articulated by a system of horizontal channels and vertical column enclosures. This grid is punctuated by shallow recesses adjacent to each column with an in-swinging operable window, reminiscent of traditional French balconies. Pre-cast concrete, visually reminiscent of the limestone of the school’s original historic mansions, and a translucent glass channel system are used on the façades to connect the past and the future by invoking memories of the masonry traditions of the original school buildings and the promise of the future conveyed by the glass. A unifying one-story granite base defines both halves of the building. Carved into these stone bases will be the names of significant French and American historical and cultural figures. A transparent glass entry wall and projecting canopy marks the lobby on both the north and south sides of the building.

Publications | Awards

List of Educational Projects
Go to the Lycée Français Website