The Primitive Hut
scientically and philosophically.
Frontispiece of Marc-Antoine Laugier: Essai sur l'architecture taste of the gentleman and the architect'.[1] To Laugier,
2nd ed. 1755 by Charles Eisen (1720-1778). Allegorical en- The Primitive Hut was the highest virtue that architec-
graving of the Vitruvian primitive hut.
The Primitive Hut is a concept that explores the origins
of architecture and its practice. The concept explores the
anthropological relationship between man and the natural
environment as the fundamental basis for the creation of
architecture. The idea of The Primitive Hut contends that
the ideal architectural form embodies what is natural and
intrinsic.
The Primitive hut as an architectural theory was brought
to life over the mid-1700s till the mid-1800s, theorised in
particular by (Abb) Marc-Antoine Laugier. Laugier pro-
vided an allegory of a man in nature and his need for shel-
ter in An Essay on Architecture that formed an underlying
structure and approach to architecture and its practice.
This approach has been explored in architectural theory
to speculate on a possible destination for architecture as a
discipline. The essay was arguably one of the rst signif-
icant attempts to theorise architectural knowledge both
1 Origins of The Primitive Hut:
Essai sur L'Architecture (Essay on
Architecture), 1755
The Essay on Architecture was rst published by Marc-
Antoine Laugier in 1753. It was written in the age of
enlightenment, during a time characterised by rational-
ist thinking through science and reason. Architecture
in France during this period was dened predominantly
by the Baroque style with its excessive ornamentation
and religious iconography. Rather than being concerned
with the search for meaning and the over analysis of the
representational elements of architecture, Laugiers essay
proposed that the idea of noble and formal architecture
was found in what was necessary for architecture, not in
its ornamentation but in its true underlying fundamentals.
Laugier argued for the simplicity of architecture, that ar-
chitecture must return to its origins, the simple rustic hut.
It was through The Primitive Hut that Laugier sought to
explain his philosophy of architecture. The Essay on Ar-
chitecture provides what Laugier explains as the general
rules of architecture: the 'true principles, the 'invari-
able rules; for 'directing the judgement and forming the
ture should achieve.
1.1 The frontispiece illustration
An illustration of the primitive hut by Charles Dominique
Eisen was the frontispiece for the second edition of
Laugiers Essay on Architecture (1755). The frontispiece
was arguably one of the most famous images in the his-
tory of architecture, it helped to make the essay more ac-
cessible and consequently it was more widely received by
the public. The message the illustration was suggesting
was clear; that the essay would suggest a new direction
or a new order for architecture. In the image a young
woman who personies architecture draws the attention
of an angelic child towards the primitive hut. Architec-
ture is pointing to a new structural clarity found in nature,
rather than the ironic ruins of the past.
1
2 2 CONTRIBUTION TO ARCHITECTURAL THEORY

1.2 Premise by returning to the hypothetical original hut as a model

for building.
The Essay on Architecture provides a story of man in his
'primitive' state to explain how the creation of the prim-
itive mans house is created instinctively based on mans
need to shelter himself from nature. Laugier believed that
2 Contribution to architectural
the model of the primitive mans hut provided the ideal theory
principles for architecture or any structure. It was from
this perspective that Laugier formed his general princi- The Primitive Hut made an important contribution to the
ples of architecture where he outlined the standard form theory of architecture. It marked the beginning of a sig-
of architecture and what he believed was fundamental to nicant analysis and debate within architectural theory,
all architecture. To Laugier, the general principles of ar- particularly between rationalist and utilitarian schools of
chitecture were found in what was natural, intrinsic and thought. While previously the eld of architecture con-
part of natural processes. cerned the search for the ideal building form through truth
in building, the primitive hut questioned the universal in
architecture. It was through the reading of the Laugier
1.3 Outline Essay questioned the fundamental and the universal re-
quirements of architecture, the text marked a new eld
Laugiers Essay on Architecture is divided into six chap- of inquiry into the eld of architecture that changed the
ters that focus on the dierent constituencies and con- understandings and the approach to architecture. In par-
siderations of architecture. It methodically identies the ticular, there were the beginnings of an attempt to under-
key components of a building, describes their fundamen- stand the various individual components of architecture.
tal importance and how they should be approached. The Primitive Hut is an a-historical point of reference
In Chapter 1: The General Principles of Architecture, that is not necessarily a historical object that is investi-
Laugier divides and analyses buildings into ve main ar- gated through speculation or an archaeological investiga-
ticles": the column, entablature, pediment, the dierent tion. The Primitive Hut was instead a self-evident reali-
storeys of architecture, the windows and doors. In Arti- sation that created a new perspective of architectural in-
cle 1, for example, Laugier makes four general rules for quiry. Architectural inquiry would be engaged to justify
the construction of columns, one of them being that the the validity of the primitive hut model.[2]
column must be strictly perpendicular, because being in- The origins of The Primitive Hut have conceptually been
tended to support the whole load, perfect verticality gives linked to the Old Testament and the story of Adam and
it its greatest strength.[1] To Laugier, these articles em- Eve, and of other primitive cultures. The classical or-
phasised the fundamental components of a building and ders in the stories about primitive dwellings are often the
what he identies as their core necessities - that is, The subject of analysis to trace the history of the primitive
Primitive Hut model. Laugier emphasised the point that hut, these have arguably been traced back to the works
nature provides the rules for architecture. of Vitruvius and The Ten Books on Architecture.[3] These
Laugier used the frontispiece to illustrate that typically tracings work to validate The Primitive Hut model.
architecture needs only three main elements, the free- Scientic and philosophical approaches have led to vari-
standing columns, horizontal beams (entablature), and a ous branches of inquiry that question both the origins and
simple pediment (the triangular end of a pitched roof). the possible destinations of architecture. These have been
Laugier also noted that the deviation or misuse of the recognised across a range of dierent cultures. These
principles lead to inherent faults in typical buildings and dierent approaches have led to various conceptualisa-
in architectural practice. In particular he recognised log- tions that question cultural dierences and attempt to de-
ical faults, issues such as proportion and unintelligent de- ne the ideal principles of architecture and of the primi-
sign. Instead, advocating that by approaching the sim- tive hut specically.
plicity of the model, fundamental mistakes are avoided The Primitive hut is a conceptual hut, that is not necessar-
and true perfection achieved.[1] ily a material and physical hut. It is an abstract concept of
The idea also claims that Ancient Greek temples owed a place that is created through mans response to the nat-
their form to the earliest habitations erected by man. In ural environment, where architecture acts as the media-
the primitive hut, the horizontal beam was supported by tor between man and nature. The Primitive hut concept
tree trunks planted upright in the ground and the roof was explores how architecture came to be, and is a way of
sloped to shed rainwater. This was an extension of the explaining the fundamental origins of architecture. The
primitive hut concept and the inspiration behind the basic Primitive hut provides a point of reference for all specula-
Doric order. tion on the essentials of building and represents arguably
The essay advocates that architecture approach perfec- the rst architectural 'idea'.
tion through the search for absolute beauty, specically The Primitive Hut concept also suggests that the natural
 3

environment provides the solutions for this ideal archi- Walter Gropius
tectural form. Understandings of vernacular architecture
have often had a major inuence on the understandings Henry Labrouste
of the Primitive Hut, as they often provide a dierent
Marc-Antoine Laugier
point of origin for a potential direction for architecture.
Rather than focusing on the meanings that are associated Le Corbusier
with the building and its components, the Primitive Hut
questions the fundamental components that are universal Carlo Lodoli
in architecture.
Adolf Loos

Francesco Milizia
2.1 Themes
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
Theory surrounding The Primitive Hut covers a number
of key themes: Augustus Pugin

Quatremere de Quincy
To present rites where a primitive hut has either
been built ritually and at seasonal intervals, or de- Alois Riegl
liberately in a primitive state for analogous ritual
purposes. John Ruskin

To show how the idea of the primitive hut became a Joseph Rykwert
vehicle for architectural theories from the fteenth
century on. Gottfried Semper

To suggest that the primitive hut will retain its va- Leon Vaudoyer
lidity as a reminder of the original and therefore es-
Viollet-le-Duc
sential meaning of all building for people: that is, of
architecture[4] Vitruvius

Frank Lloyd Wright

3 Types of primitive huts
The primitive hut has been theorised to have dierent 5 See also
forms:
Architectural theory
1. The purely historical object that has been abandoned
to construct better huts.
2. The hut reconstructed in peoples imagination.
6 Further reading
3. The anthropological hut, an existing hut that is anal- Hermann, W. (1962) Laugier and Eighteenth Cen-
ysed to rediscover the universal elements of archi- tury French Theory, London: Zwemmer
tecture.
Odgers, J. (2006) Primitive: Original Matters in Ar-
4. The primitive hut as a place that continuously reoc- chitecture, London: Routledge
curs whenever a building is created both consciously
and unconsciously.[5]
7 References
4 Notable architects and theorists [1] Laugier, M. A. (1755). An Essay on Architecture. London:
T. Osbourne and Shipton.
The Primitive Hut concept has been explored over various
[2] The Idea of the Primitive Hut. The Legitimacy of Archi-
periods of time to varying extents in architectural history,
tecture 1750-1850. Universiteit Leiden. 15 March 2013.
including by notable architects such as:
Retrieved 29 September 2016.

Karl Botticher [3] Rykwert, Joseph (1972). On Adams House in Paradise:

The Idea of the Primitive Hut in Architectural History. New
Felix Duban York: Museum of Modern Art. ISBN 0870705121.
4 7 REFERENCES

[4] Germann, G. Review: On Adams House in Paradise;

The Idea of the Primitive Hut in Architectural History by
Joseph Rykwert. Journal of the Society of Architectural
Historians. Vol. 33, No. 3, Oct., 1974.

[5] Adams, T (2009). Benoit Goetz: A French reader of

Rykwerts On Adams House in Paradise. Interstices, A
Journal of Architecture and Related Arts. 10: 8796.
 5

8 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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8.2 Images
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l%27Architecture_-_Frontispiece.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://galatea.univ-tlse2.fr/pictura/UtpicturaServeur/
GenerateurNotice.php?numnotice=A5361 Original artist: Charles Eisen

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