Lycée Français de San Francisco

We transformed a historic landmark building into a total immersion French school. The project had an extremely tight completion deadline of three months.

Our Design Process

With its landmark status and the need to design to achieve LEED certification, renovating this 1928 building offered several challenges:

Removal of hazardous materials, including asbestos
Full seismic upgrade of the building
New staircases and other accessibility solutions

Imaginative yet practical design

Hilliard Architects chose a fresh palette to brighten the interiors: pops of primary colors against white walls and flooring or jewel-toned carpeting. A vibrant red color updated the traditional look of window mullions and doorways.

The Results

Library design included removin the ceiling to dramatically open the space. Innovative details include colored fabric air dictwork and the use of fire rated intumescent paint on the old, riveted steel trusses allowing them to be visible while achieving required fire safety.