Villa Albertine is delighted to officially welcome its cohort of American students to Paris for the 2026 edition of the Summer Academy in Architecture and Urban Studies.
In partnership with the Université Gustave Eiffel, this nine-week program is designed to inspire a new generation of professionals by fostering meaningful cross-cultural collaboration. A core pillar of the Academy is peer-to-peer exchange: throughout the program, American students are paired with French students from leading architecture and urban planning schools across the Île-de-France region.
The program kicked off with a joint week of intensive seminars, starting with a conversation with Saint-Gobain’s Chairman and CEO, Benoît Bazin, followed by industrial, cultural, and R&D site visits and workshops, allowing both American and French students to explore the architectural and urban ecosystem of Paris together. Following this week of visits, the students will begin eight-week internships to gain hands-on training within the Parisian architectural landscape.
Students will be mentored by a range of architecture and urban planning agencies during their internships, including 2Portzamparc, Coldefy, Croixmariebourdon Architectes Associés, Encore Heureux Architects, ENIA Architectes, Hardel Le Bihan Architectes, Herzog & de Meuron, Jakob+MacFarlane Architects, New South, and Séquano.
We would like to thank our sponsor, Saint-Gobain, whose dedication to sustainable construction and global innovation makes this experience possible.
The 2026 Participants
Discover our 2026 cohort, comprised of students from the U.S. and France with interests in architecture and urban studies.
- Ines Ben Yarou — ENSA La Villette
- Ana Candale — ENSA La Villette
- Kale Connor — ENSA Malaquais
- Sarah Feliho — École d’Urbanisme de Paris
- Matthieu Gaude — ENSA La Villette
- Cherita Gnassounou — ENSA Malaquais
- Assia Goumar — ENSA La Villette
- Naa-Larley Larkai — ENSA La Villette
- Nathan Oriou — ENSA La Villette
- Agnes Payer — ENSA La Villette
- Leah Altman — University of California, Berkeley
- Peterley Dorcius — University of Miami
- Calvin Heimberg — Georgia Tech
- Catherine Henebery — University of Michigan
- Walter McAllister — Portland State University
- Ann Nguyen — University of Michigan
- Shaelyn Parker — Rice University
- Conrad Schmid — Rice University
- Jenny Shima — University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Stay tuned for a full recap of the summer program and more news about the launch of the next cycle!