This 1600sf courtyard Pavilion is the latest collaboration in a 20-year partnership between DNM Architecture and the Lycée Français de San Francisco – a French immersion school for students in preschool through Grade 12 and part of a worldwide network of accredited French schools.

Located in the western “Sunset” district of San Francisco, the school’s listed historic building features an open courtyard (see final image below) that is underused due to the realities of San Francisco’s famously unpredictable fog (known locally as “Karl”).  The DNM-designed pavilion is structurally freestanding inside of the courtyard, attached only on one side to the non-historic lobby of the 1974 auditorium. When complete, the Pavilion will offer students a tempered, semi-enclosed space for lunch, study, and other activities. Adjacent to the lobby, it will also provide an extension of the school’s auditorium lobby for receptions and other events.

Consistent with the Lycée’s and DNM’s ongoing commitment to sustainable design, the Pavilion will feature a solar glass roof generating a net-positive electricity over the course of the year. The timber trusses and other framing members are fabricated using FSC certified lumber and the Pavilion floor is composed of permeable pavers set in sand

“We are very proud of this latest addition to the Lycée campus and the trust they continue to place in our firm,” says DNM Architecture president and founder David Marlatt, AIA. “The Pavilion will host a variety of activities and enhance the student experience.”

Currently in the permitting stage, construction is expected to begin in late 2024, and student use is expected to commence in the Spring of 2025.