Toa2 Notes1-M1 PDF

K.S.
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
Theory of architecture-2 | Module‐1 [15ARC2.6]
Even semester| 2017 SubhadhaBattina

Why theory?
In an architectural context
Architectural theory is the act of thinking, discussing, or most importantly

writing about architecture. Architectural theory is taught in most architecture
schools and is practiced by the world's leading architects. Some forms that
architecture theory takes are the lecture or dialogue, the treatise or book, and the
paper project or competition entry. Architectural theory is often didactic, and
theorists tend to stay close to or work from within schools. It has existed in some
form since antiquity, and as publishing became more common, architectural
theory gained an increased richness. Books, magazines, and journals published an
unprecedented amount of works by architects and critics in the Twentieth
century. As a result, styles and movements formed and dissolved much more
quickly than the relatively enduring modes in earlier history. It is to be expected
that the use of the internet will further the discourse on architecture in the Twenty
first century.
Let’s go back in time
Not all industrial products are modern inventions. There are several types
of artifacts that have been produced during generations. Accordingly, these
artifacts have also been the object of many studies and theories. The most
notable example of these is the building. The art and science of architecture has
been studied almost continuously during two millennia, and a great number of
these treatises have been preserved until our day.
Informative studies aim at reporting the present (or past) state of the object which
in architectural studies can be either one building or any defined class or series of
buildings, as well as people related to these buildings.
Explanatory studies try to find out why each building has taken the shape that
they have. The reasons can be taken either from the past (causal explanation),
P a g e 1 | 63

K.S. SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE

from the concurrent context, or alternatively from the future (i.e. from the
intentions of the builders).
Normative studies attempt to point out in which respects the object of study could
be improved, and the method of doing it. When the outcome of normative studies
is generalizable to later similar objects, we can call it theory of design
Recent studies about architecture and buildings can usually be classified into one
or the other of the above three genres of research (if not being combinations of
them). However, when looking at earlier writings it turns out that practically all
papers published before 18 century belong exclusively to the third group, i.e. to
design theory
This course will

cover:
Classical,
Byzantine,
Medieval,
Gothic,
Renaissance,
Baroque,
Rococo,
Neoclassical,
Modern
and Postmodern,
deconstruction
P a g e 2 | 63


Architecture of Antiquity
P a g e 3 | 63


Vitruvius Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
Architectural theory in the West begins with Vitruvius. Famous Roman

architect in the 1st century BC. Vitruvius became famous as an architect to the
emperor Augustus. His work "De architectura", is compilation of 10 books-a
summary of his own experience in the field of architecture.
The Ten Books on Architecture was written

around 15 BC and dedicated to the
emperor. He was an architect, engineer,
and artillery officer. Books gained their
special importance first by the breadth of
their undertaking, second, and more
important, by the historical fortune of
being the only architectural treatise to
survive from antiquity.
A 1684 depiction of Vitruvius explaining De Architectura to Augustus
Books consist of dissertations on a wide variety of subjects relating to architecture,

engineering, sanitation, practical hydraulics, acoustic vases, and the like. Much of
the material appears to have been taken from earlier extinct treatises by Greek
architects. In the books, Vitruvius explained the theory of the architectural order of
pillars(Doric, Ionic, Corinthian), as well as shapes and types of temples and
introduced rules for the design of houses.
His work had a considerable influence on the Middle Ages and Renaissance. As
such, Vitruvius has been the primary authority in architectural thinking, setting the
tenor of theory in the West for much of 1800 years.
De architectura – Ten Books on Architecture
Book 1: Qualifications and training of an architect, the fundamental principles of
architecture
Book 2: Architectural History, Building Materials
Book 3: symmetry in temples and in the human body
Book 4: temples, the different types of columnar “Order”, theory of proportions
Book 5: Theatres, baths, and other public buildings
Book 6: site, domestic architecture, exposure and proportions of houses
Book 7: flooring, lime, stucco, frescoes and their coloring materials
Book 8: water supplies, aqueducts, cisterns, etc
Book9: astronomy, sundials and water clocks
Book10: machines used in civil and military engineering Vitruvian Triad:
P a firmitas,
g e 4 | 63
utilitas, and venustas


The Need for a System of Proportions
Architects and builders have always sought systems of proportions, and Vitruvius
was no different.
He wrote:
"Symmetry is a proper agreement between the members of the work itself, and
relation between the different parts and the whole general scheme, in
accordance with a certain part selected as standard."
"Therefore since nature has proportioned the human body so that its members are
duly proportioned to the frame as a whole, . . . in perfect buildings the different
members must be in exact symmetrical relations to the whole general scheme".
Here Vitruvius uses symmetrical relationships to mean the same proportions, rather
than mirror symmetry. Such a system would
use the repetition of a few key ratios, to
insure harmony and unity. It would have
additive properties, so the whole could
equal the sum of its parts, in different
combinations. This would give a pleasing
design, and maintain flexibility. Finally, since
builders are most comfortable with integers,
it would be based on whole numbers.
depicts a male figure in two superimposed
positions with his arms and legs apart and
simultaneously inscribed in a circle and
square. The drawing and text are sometimes
called the Canon of Proportions or
Proportions of Man. The drawing is based on
the correlations of ideal human proportions
described by Vitruvius, who named the
human figure as the principal source of
proportion for the Classical orders of
architecture.
Vitruvian Man
circa 1487, drawn by Leonardo da Vinci
P a g e 5 | 63


At the beginning of Book-I Vitruvius separates the art into the realms of practice
(fabrica) and theory (ratiocinato). The former is the manual activity associated
with building and construction; the latter rationally demonstrates and explains
conventions and proportional sytems governing design.
“Proportion is a correspondence among the measures of the members of an
entire work, and of the whole to a certain part selected as standard. From this
result the principles of symmetry. Without symmetry and proportion there can be
no principles in the design of any temple; that is, if there is no precise relation
between its members as in the case of those of a well shaped man.” —Vitruvius,
The Ten Books of Architecture (III, Ch. 1)
Mayamatam
It is a general treatise, a vastushatra, written in sanskrit. Originating from Dravidian
India, most probably from the Tamil area, Its is a part of the shaivite agamic
literature
It was intended to be a manual for the architect and a guidebook for the layman.
Well-thought-of by traditional architects (sthapati-s) of South India, the treatise is of
great interest at a time when technical traditions, in all fields, are being scrutinized
for their possible modern application.
Drafting must have been done during the Chola period when architecture , it
describes ‘had reached the peak of its maturity’. written sometime between 11th
and 12th century. It Comprising about 3300 verses and divided into 36 chapters, it
is identified as a vastusastra, that is, as a treatise on dwelling, it defines the vastu
as “anywhere where immortals or mortals live”
This definition is followed by specifications which show that the concept of housing
is very wide and is divided into four categories: the Earth (considered as original
dwelling), buildings, vehicles and seats ( last three are nothing but vastu; deriving
from the firs vastu-the Earth). Once iconography (Linga images and their
pedestals)has been added to this list we have a panorama, brief but inclusive, of
the content of the work. The chapters from one to thirty deal with architecture
and planning; the remaining six chapters are on vehicles, furniture, iconography
etc. Considered a revealed text, expressed by Maya, the divine architect. Maya
intermediary, transmits the words of god.
The text is, obviously, a deduction from existing practices and actual structures
rather than an abstract theoretical treatise on architecture. Talks of Saiva
tradition. Vitruvius who theorizing from actual and precise examples, thus
P a g e 6 | 63


substituting for the irrefutable, but abstract, authority of revelation that of a more
concrete antiquity. So also, Mayamata and its theory of architecture has been
taken from existing monuments belonging to an easily identifiable school. These
monuments have been carefully analysed and reduced to subsets and simple
elements(single or multiple shapes), simple enough to be able to be combined in
a very wide range of compositions. At the same time a norm is defined for each
subset, governing conditions of general use based on their
appearance/dimension or both. This method is separated from the technique of
building. Proportions and dimensions are very important in the overall analysis-
modular concept.-in elevation and in plan. All the parts, even the smallest of the
assembly( however large it may be), are ultimately connected to one another by
an intersecting pattern of different system of proportions and modular relationship.
In these different sections are found entire chapters or significant passages
consecrated to particular topics in the sphere of technique or that of the ritual
which sets the pace for the construction: system of measurements and quality of
the architects (Chapter 5), orientation and laying-out (Chapters 6-7), offerings to
the gods of the site (Chapter 8), foundation deposit (Chapter 12), joinery (Chapter
17), rites for the end of the construction of a temple and for the first entry into a
house (Chapters 18 and 28) and renovation work and associated rites (Chapter
35). Ancient Indian architecture has well defined series of proportions for plan,
elevation and building elements. Proportions are prescribed for micro, meso and
macro levels which are time tested and are still appreciated in this age. This is
mainly due to the nature of the Mayamatam text itself and of its subject which
allows the specialist to give an interpretation, whether it be personal or guided by
the fashions of the time and place. The phenomenon is only possible because
inspite of their doctrinaire character this treatise and others of the same group,
leave to architects the right to originality in the exercise of their art; in other words,
the tradition is a guide more than it is a restraint.
P a g e 7 | 63


The middle ages
The Middle Ages; Most documents remaining from the Middle Ages have to do with the monastery
institution. The convents erected a great number of buildings. there was little interest in mundane values
like the qualities of architecture, Fortunately, the libraries of the monasteries preserved at least some
fragments of the architectural theory of antiquity for a long time, While much of the surviving medieval
architecture is either religious or military, examples of civic and even domestic architecture can be found
throughout Europe. Examples include manor houses, town halls, almshouses and bridges
The classical system of the "orders" (on the right) became the most visible contents of architectural theory,
although it also emphasized the composition of building masses and rooms and the concepts of proportion
and harmony. The classical style is aptly called 'mannerism' in some countries.
craftsmen in the building trade started forming guilds (German: Bauhütte). These guilds probably gathered a
great deal of traditional information related to construction, but it seems to have remained a professional
secret of the guilds and the masters,
In antiquity and in the Middle Ages, architects designed not only the layout and decoration but also the
construction and stability of the buildings
Central figures in developing the mathematical construction theory were Robert Hooke (1635‐1703), Jakob
Bernoulli (1654‐1705) and Leonhard Euler (1707‐1783). All of them published several books. From Euler
onwards, the theory of elasticity of structures developed side by side with mathematical theory.
The great architecture of medieval Europe was predominantly sacred. Nonetheless, serveral styles of
buildings devloped like Romanesque & gothic etc,.the Byzantines developed a
unique architectural decorative style. Which was very grand.
The best architectural development for most people was the invention of the chimney in the Early Middle
Ages, which made people's houses less smoky
P a g e 8 | 63


Theory in Renaissance
In the fifteenth century A.D. people of Europe developed interest for the literature,
art, architecture, painting and culture of Greece and Rome.
‘Renaissance’ means ‘Rebirth’ or ‘New Birth’.
The fall of Constantinople was its main cause. It was the centre of learning. The
invention of printing machine was responsible for Renaissance. In 145 A.D. John
Gutenberg of Germany invented printing machine and letters and printed
book. William Caxton brought this machine to England in 1477 A.D. Thirdly,
many kings, nobles and merchants encouraged new literature and art. Finally,
the men with new thoughts paved the way for Renaissance. They advised not
to accept anything blindly which is not proved properly.
What happened to architecture?
The Architecture of Italy was largely influenced by the spirit of Renaissance. The
builders of this time constructed many churches, palaces and massive
buildings following the style and pattern of ancient Greece and Rome. The
pointed arches of the Churches and Palaces were substituted by round
arches, domes or by the plain lines of the Greek temples.
‘Florence’, a city of Italy became the nerve centre of art-world. The ‘St Peter’s
Church of Rome’ the ‘Cathedral of Milan’ and the ‘Palaces of Venice and
Florence’ were some of the remarkable specimens of Renaissance
architecture. In due course of time, Renaissance architecture spread to France
and Spain. Like painting, Renaissance architecture was inspired by the
Classical. The architecture reflects the philosophy of Humanism, the
enlightenment and clarity of mind as opposed to the darkness and spirituality
of the Middle Ages. Renaissance architecture was inspired by the
Classical.(Antiquity). Renaissance architecture is the architecture of the period
between the early 15th and early 17th centuries in different regions of Europe,
when there was a conscious revival of certain elements of ancient Greek and
Roman thought and material culture. The Renaissance style places emphasis
on symmetry, proportion, geometry and the regularity of parts as they are
demonstrated in the architecture of classical antiquity and in particular
ancient Roman architecture, of which many examples remained. Orderly
arrangements of columns, pilasters and lintels, as well as the use of semicircular
arches, hemispherical domes, niches and aedicule's replaced the more
complex proportional systems and irregular profiles of medieval buildings.
Ancient Greek Architecture was studied and emulated in terms of the qualities
like Harmony, Proportion, Rationality, Balance, etc.
P a g e 9 | 63


This was more than a revival, it was an argument for a return to rational
structural principles and their expression in buildings. Stylistically, Renaissance
architecture followed Gothic architecture and was succeeded by Baroque
architecture.
The classical system of the "orders" became the most visible contents of
architectural theory, although it also emphasized the composition of building
masses and rooms and the concepts of proportion and harmony. The classical
style is aptly called 'mannerism' in some countries.
The person generally credited with bringing about the Renaissance view of
architecture is Filippo Brunelleschi, (1377–1446). The underlying feature of the
work of Brunelleschi was "order".
In the early 15th century, Brunelleschi began to look at the world to see what
the rules were that governed one's way of seeing. He observed that the way
one sees regular structures such as the Baptistery of Florence and the tiled
pavement surrounding it follows a mathematical order. its influence was
decisive for the subsequent development of architecture, as it formed the
basis from which Leon Battista Alberti, Filippo Brunelleschi, and the other
architects created Renaissance architecture.
The leading architects of the Early Renaissance or Quattrocento
are Brunelleschi and Alberti.
• Renaissance (ca. 1400–1500); also known as the Quattrocento and

sometimes Early Renaissance
• High Renaissance (ca.1500–1525)
• Mannerism (ca. 1520–1600)
Principal phases of Renaissance
• Quattrocento
In the Quattrocento, concepts of architectural order were explored and rules
were formulated. The study of classical antiquity led in particular to the
adoption of Classical detail and ornamentation.
Space, as an element of architecture, was utilised differently from the way it
had been in the Middle Ages. Space was organised by proportional logic, its
form and rhythm subject to geometry, rather than being created by intuition as
in Medieval buildings. The prime example of this is the Basilica di San
Lorenzo in Florence by Filippo Brunelleschi (1377–1446) and Leon Alberti
• High Renaissance
During the High Renaissance, concepts derived from classical antiquity were
developed and used with greater surety. The most representative architect
is Bramante (1444–1514) who expanded the applicability of classical
P a g e 10 | 63


architecture to contemporary buildings. His San Pietro in Montorio (1503) was
directly inspired by circular Roman temples. He was, however, hardly a slave to
the classical forms and it was his style that was to dominate Italian architecture
in the 16th century.
• Mannerist
During the Mannerist period, architects experimented with using architectural
forms to emphasize solid and spatial relationships. The Renaissance ideal of
harmony gave way to freer and more imaginative rhythms. The best known
architect associated with the Mannerist style was Michelangelo (1475–1564),
who is credited with inventing the giant order, a large pilaster that stretches
from the bottom to the top of a façade : and Andrea Palladio (1500-1580)
Neo Classicism
Last phase of the Renaissance, when Ancient Greek Architecture was studied
and emulated in terms of the qualities like Harmony, Proportion, Rationality,
Balance, etc. The architecture of Neo-Classicism emerged out of two different
but related developments which radically transformed the relationship
between man and nature. A sudden increase in man’s capacity to control
nature due to technical advances of the Industrial Revolution. A fundamental
shift in the nature of human consciousness, in response to major changes
taking place in society, resulting in a new cultural formation that was equally
appropriate to the life styles of the declining aristocracy and the rising
bourgeoisie. Neo Classicism was more than a revival; it was an argument for a
return to rational structural principles and their expression in buildings.
In architecture, neoclassicism was the dominant style in Europe during 1750s-
1850s, marked by the imitation of Greco-Roman forms. Classical architectural
models were adapted or referenced in a range of architectural forms, including
churches, arches, temple, house, terraces, garden monuments and interior
designs. Later, Neoclassical architecture became an international style, each
country held some distinct characteristic in their style. Neoclassical, or "new"
classical, architecture describes buildings that are inspired by the classical
architecture of ancient Greece and Rome. The over-elaboration of architectural
language in the Baroque era led to the search by architects for a true style
through a precise re-appraisal of Classical Design Tenets. Their motivation was not
simply to copy the ancients but to obey the principles on which their work had
been based. Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by
the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century. In its purest form,
it is a style principally derived from the architecture of classical antiquity,
the Vitruvian principles, and the work of the Italian architect Andrea Palladio. In
form, Neoclassical architecture emphasizes the wall rather than chiaroscuro and
P a g e 11 | 63


maintains separate identities to each of its parts. The style is manifested both in its
details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its
architectural formulae as an outgrowth of some classicising features of Late
Baroque. Many of the first generation of neoclassical architects received training
in the classic French tradition through a series of exhaustive and practical lectures
that was offered for decades by Jacques-François Blondel.
Leon Battista Alberti

The first major Renaissance theorist to rival Vitruvius in importance was Leon
Battista Alberti (1404-1472) with his book “On the Art of Building”. Alberti sought
to improve on the Roman author’s effort to provide the Renaissance with a
more coherent and logical basis for theory. Alberti’s grounding of Renaissance
architecture in the imitation of nature, his emphasis on its social or cultural
importance, his definition of it as a professional discipline, and the preminence
he placed on beauty and harmonic proportions established the theoretical
focus of the next four centuries.
The new conception of architecture begins with his description of a building as:
“a form of body, which like any other consists of lineaments and matter- one the
product of thought, the other of nature” .
The intent and purpose of lineaments(distinctive features)
“lies in finding the correct, infallible way of joining and fitting together those lines
and angles which define and enclose the surfaces of the building”.
“Beauty,” notes Alberti in Book IV, “is that reasoned harmony of all the parts within
a body, so that nothing may be added, taken away, or altered, but for the worse”.
Leon Battista Alberti, as a scholar and philosopher
who moved in humanist circles in Florence and the papal
court in Rome, was involved in all the central concepts of the
Renaissance Humanist philosopher, writer, Renaissance architect
and artistic theorist, Leon Battista Alberti is considered by many
scholars to be the quintessential Renaissance "universal man" of
learning. Leon Battista Alberti wrote the first book on Italian
grammar and a groundbreaking work on cryptography. He is
credited with inventing the cypher wheel.
Alberti never received a formal architectural education. His architectural ideas

were the product of his own studies and research. Alberta's two other
architectural writings are "De Pictura" (1435), in which he emphatically declares
the importance of painting as a base for architecture and "De Re Aedificatoria"
(1450) his theoretical masterpiece.
P a g e 12 | 63


BIOGRAPHY
Leon Battista Alberti was born in Genoa on Feb. 14, 1404. Leon Battista
attended the famous school of the humanist Gasparino Barzizza in Padua. By
1421 Leon Battista was at the University of Bologna; while there he wrote a Latin
comedy. After earning his degree in Bologna he went to Rome. A master of
Latin and Italian, Alberti also rewrote in Latin traditional lives of saints and
martyrs. After taking holy orders, he was deemed to hold the priorate of San
Martino a Gangalandi at Lastra a Signa In 1448 he was appointed rector of
the parish of San Lorenzo in Mugello.Alberti served also as a papal inspector of
monuments (1447-55), and advised Pope Nicholas V, a former fellow student
from Bologna, on the ambitious building projects in the city of Rome. In the
mid-1430s, Alberti moved to Florence with Pope Eugenius IV In 1431 and early
1432 he accompanied Cardinal Albergati on a tour of northern Europe. Soon
after this Alberti wrote Descriptio urbis Romae as an index for an archeological
map of Rome and in 3 months composed the first three books of Della
zamiglia, which is concerned with domestic life and the education of children.
Alberti’s principles
Alberti drew upon principles of geometry and balance to describe an artificial
system of “perspective” a term whose etymology reveals its origins in
Renaissance efforts to “see through” the picture plane. The intricacies of the
outline, the reception of light, and the necessity for a varied, yet
balanced, composition are given detailed treatment. Nothing if not
thorough, Alberti even prescribes the most pleasing way to depict
branches, leaves, hair and clothing when a gentle breeze is blowing.
Alberti’s treatise was an immediate success, and the author quickly made a
translation from his original Latin into Italian to reach a still larger audience
of academics, patrons and artists. Even a cursory examination of Raphael’s
Marriage of the Virgin will reveal many of Alberti’s principles at work.
Alberti’s belief in an absolute numerical scheme
for beauty and proportion was perhaps his most
important contribution to Renaissance theory.
To give structure and decoration to facades,

Alberti developed a clever system of classical
pilasters and architraves which could be
superimposed on any earlier smooth surface.
Alberti used the name "ornamentum"
('equipment', 'decoration') for these architectural
P a g e 13 | 63
elements.


In 1450 Alberti was commissioned to transform the Gothic church of S.

Francesco. The unfinished Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini (1450) was the first
building that Alberti designed and attempted to build based on his
architectural principals. The facade of Santa Maria Novella (1458-71) is
considered his greatest achievement. Alberti designed S. Sebastiano (1460).
Palazzo Rucellai is a fifteenth-century palace in the Piazza de' Rucellai,
Florence, Italy, designed by Leon Battista Alberti between 1446 and 1451.
San Maria Novella basilica, florence, Italy (1456–1470):

Alberti designed the facade of Santa Maria Novella, a medieval church. It has
been rightly described as 'great Renaissance exponent of classical eurhythmia'
Its dimensions are all bound to each other by the 1:2 ratio of the musical Octave.
The marble panels produce a mosaic like effect of discrete color patches on the
exterior of this medieval Italian church. They contribute to a sense of rhythmic,
geometric unity.
The revival of classical antiquity can best be illustrated by the Palazzo Rucellai,
where the columns are classical orders.
P a g e 14 | 63


Andrea Palladio
Palladio's architecture and theories embodied Renaissance architectural thought
in the second half of the sixteenth century. Although Palladio's works lack some of
the grandeur of other Renaissance architects, he established a successful and
lasting way of recreating ancient classicism.
Andrea Palladio began to develop his own architectural style around 1541
His early commissions consisted primarily of palaces and villas for the aristocracy,
but he began to design religious buildings in the 1560s. In 1570 he published his
theoretical work “ Quattro Libri dell 'Architettura” In the same year, he was
appointed architectural adviser to the Venetian Republic.
The Palladian style, named after him, adhered to classical Roman principles he
rediscovered, applied, and explained in his works. He designed many
palaces, villas, and churches, but Palladio's reputation, initially, and after his
death, has been founded on his skill as a designer of villas. The palladian villas are
located mainly in the province of Vicenza, while the palazzi are concentrated in
the city of Vicenza and the churches in Venice.
Although influenced by a number of Renaissance thinkers and architects,
Palladio's ideas resulted independently of most contemporary ideas. Creatively
linked to the artistic traditions of Alberti and Bramante, Palladio used principles
that related to art and forms that related to nature to generate his architecture.
P a g e 15 | 63


Palladian Motif: A door or window opening in three parts, divided by posts, with a
lintel flat over each side but arched over the center. the motif was first described
in the work L'architettura (1537), by the Italian architect Sebastiano Serlio, it is also
known as the Serlian motif, or Serliana, and the window derived from it may be
called a Serlian window. It is also sometimes called a Venetian window.
Villa Capra (Villa Rotunda)

A major classic of the Pantheonic type is situated on the top of a hill outside the
town of Vicenza. Called the Villa Rotonda because of its completely symmetrical
plan &central circular hall, the building is rotated 45’ to south, enabling all rooms
to receive sunshine. Asymmetrically sited in the topography, with each loggia*,
although identical in design, relating differently to the landscape it fronts through
variations of wide steps, retaining walls and embankments. The symmetrical
architecture in asymmetrical relationship to the landscape intensifies the
experience of the hilltop. Features of the house were to become incorporated in
numerous Palladian style houses throughout Europe over the following centuries.
*a gallery or room with one or more open sides, especially one that forms part of a
house and has one side open to the garden.
P a g e 16 | 63


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Decline of Neoclassicism
During the second half of the 18th century the interaction of a
number of a number of unprecedented technical developments and socio-
economic forces gave rise to a new context. In the space of a century the finite
city was totally transformed.
The rapid decline of Neoclassicism was due to a progressive functionalism
propelled by technological developments of fireproof construction, gas lighting,
central heat and ventilation, and exposed cast-iron structure.
Context-Post Renaissance & French academic tradition
• Baroque Era - beginning 1600 A.D.

• Neo Classicism / 1750 – 1900
• French Academic Tradition
• Decline of Neoclassicism
• Nineteenth Century Concepts
• Gothic Revival - Structural Rationalism P a g e 17 | 63
• The industrial revolution


French Academic Tradition

Chiefly articulated by Jacques Francois Blondel, Claude Perrault
The founding of the Royal Academy of Architecture in Paris in 1671 can be taken
as the starting point of modern European theory and practice. The purpose of the
Academy was to codify the principles of Classical Design and to espouse them in
practice. Symbolically, the new academy represented, in line with the political
and cultural ascendancy of France, a declaration of independence from the
Renaissance tradition.
In response to the perceived architectural excesses of the baroque period, the

academy’s foundation reflected the tendency to provide a nationally sanctioned
forum for the consolidation and rational reinterpretation of traditional
conventions. The question of whether contemporary culture could match or even
exceed classical accomplishments led to the re-evaluation of Vitruvius and
Renaissance theory.
The theoretical developments that attended the emergence of Neo-Classicism in
France were chiefly articulated by Perrault & Blondel. Claude Perrault questioned
the validity of the Classical Vitruvian proportions to his time as these had been
received and refined through Classical theory. Instead, he elaborated his thesis of
positive beauty and arbitrary beauty, giving to the former the normative role of
standardization and perfection and to the latter such expressive function as may
be required by a particular circumstance or character. Jacques – Francois
Blondel, after opening his architectural school in Rue de la Harpe in 1743 became
the master of a ‘visionary’ generation of architects. Blondel’s preoccupation was
an appropriate physiognomy to accord with the varying social character of
different building types.
P a g e 18 | 63


Jacques-François Blondel
Jacques-François Blondel (8 January 1705 — 9 January 1774) was a
French architect and teacher. After running his own highly successful school of
architecture for many years, he was appointed Professor of Architecture at
the Académie d'Architecture in 1762, and his Cours d'architecture ("Course of
Architecture", 1771–1777) largely superseded a similarly titled book published in
1675 by his famous namesake, François Blondel, who had occupied the same
post in the late 17th century.
Career:
 Born in Rouen, he initially trained under his uncle Jean-Francois Blondel
(1683-1756), architect of Rouen. Jacques-Francois was in Paris by 1726 and
continued his studies with Gilles-Marie Oppenord, from whom he acquired a
knowledge of the rococo.
 He also worked with Jean Mariette, contributing to the latter’s
L’Architecture francoise (1727,1738), as a writer and as an architectural
engraver. Blondel developed into a conservative and thorough architect,
whose rationally ordered mind consolidated French classical tradition and
practice.
 His first independent publication was the hugely influential encyclopedia
work, De la Distribution des Edifices en General, issued at Paris, 1737-38. it
contained 155 carefully engraved plates.
 That same time he opened his own private school in Paris, the Ecole des
Arts, sanctioned by the Academie in 1743.
 In the ensuing years a long sequence of architects profited from his
discourse: Boullee, Brongniart, Chalgrin, La Guepiere, Desprez, de wailly,
Gondoin, Ledoux, Guimard and Rondelet, and to foreigners who would
bring Neoclassicism home with them: the Anglo-Swedish sir William
Chambers, and the Dane Casper Frederik Harsdorff.
 “Blondel was the most significant French architectural educator of the
eighteenth century ….his objective was to establish design principles for
domestic architecture that correspond to the classical principles already in
practice for civil structures”.
 In his clear and rational Architectural francoise, a four – volume work
published from 1752 to 1756, he covered the past century and more of
French buildings in and near Paris, setting them in their historical context and
providing a wealth of detailed information that would otherwise have been
lost.
 In the preface he remarked, “I have used simple terms and a popular style
with the intention of being understood by layman and artist alike; having
P a g e 19 | 63


noticed that recent books about architecture are either badly organized or
over long.
 He originally planned eight volumes, but only the first four were published.
The work brought him official notice; he was induced into the Academie
d’Architecture in 1755 and appointed architect to Louis XV.
 As a teacher ,blondel has influenced many of his students greatly by his
design theories to progress with excellent buildings. Some of his greatly
influenced students are :-
o Scottish architect william chambers’ somerset house for the royal
academy of arts,london.
o French architect, Richard mique’s design for a residence at
Versailles.
o Dutch architect Pieter de swarts’ gate of delft.
o Germen architect Christian weinlig who was a member of the
Dresden. neoclassical school was also among the greatly influence
architects.
Claude Perrault
Was educated at the prestigious Collège de Beauvais and then studied medicine
at the University of Paris. He received his bachelor's degree in 1639 and two years
later received his master degree.
 After graduation he started a career as a doctor of medicine and later on

became a leader of a group of anatomists
 He proposed two theories, concerning the circulation of sap in plants and
embryonic growth from preformed germs.
 He also published many papers on Acoustics, In his longest essay he
explained sound as an agitation of air, rather than by the concept of sound
waves.
 Although Claude Perrault stopped practicing medicine c. 1661, he
continued to treat family, friends, and the poor.
 Perrault also designed many mechanical equipment.
 After twenty years of practicing medicine, Claude turned his attention to
architecture and now he is best known as the one of the architects.
 He became well known for his translation of the ten books of Vitruvius, the
only surviving Roman work on architecture, into French in 1673
 His treatise on the five classical orders of architecture followed in 1683.
P a g e 20 | 63


Claude’s brother, Charles, was assistant to J.-B. Colbert, the superintendent of

works under Louis XIV.
 With his brother Charles influence he was appointed to the three-
man commission responsible for the rebuilding of the Louvre.
 Perrault collaborated with the famous architects Louis Le Vau,
Charles Le Brun and Francois d’Orbay to submit a worthy design for
competition, and his design was selected.
 Claude Perrault collaborated in the final design of the Colonnade, a
massive row of paired columns that rises above the unadorned first story
and dominates the majestic east facade of the Louvre.
 Perrault claimed responsibility for this design, but it is now thought
that he collaborated on it with Le Vau and d’Orbay and helped solve the
engineering problems associated with the Colonnade’s construction
 Colonnade was built between 1665 and 1680 and cited everywhere
as a example of the classicistic phase of the French baroque style.
 Later by which time Louis XIV had abandoned the Louvre and
focused his attention on the Palace of Versailles.
 The wing behind the east façade was not finished until the 19th
century with the advent of Napoleon.
 The east façade, divided in five parts, is a typical solution of the
French classicism.
P a g e 21 | 63


 The simple character of the ground floor basement sets off the
paired Corinthian columns, modelled strictly according to Vitruvius, against
a shadowed void, with pavilions at the ends.
 Little that could be called Baroque can be identified in its cool
classicism that looks back to the 16th century. Perrault's participation in its
design established his reputation as an architect.
Perrault’s architecture projects include also several other building in Paris:

 The observatory of the Académie
 The Château de Sceaux
 A triumphal arch on Rue St-Antoine
 Among the oldest of the great Western observatories still in use, Paris
Observatory became famous through the research and discoveries of
many scientists. The observatory was built between 1667 and 1672 by order
of Louis XIV.The architecture is typical of the French classical period, this
building is less ornamented than its contemporaries. The only ornaments are
a triangular pediment, a terrace, and two bas-reliefs on its south side
representing astronomical instruments. The rectangular main building has
two octagonal towers at the eastern and western sides, and there is a
square tower on the north front. Two symmetrical wings were added in the
middle of the 19th century.
 Eventually Claude Perrault died of an infection, caught during a dissection
of a camel in the Botanical Garden of Paris on October, 9th, 1688.
P a g e 22 | 63


Jean Baptiste Rondelet
 French theory took a new direction in the nineteenth century when Jean
Baptiste Rondelet, famed for saving the collapsing church of Ste.
Genevieve in Paris (now the Pantheon) published his volume ‘Traite
theorique et pratique de l’art de batir’, a work that is remarkable simply
because it contains almost no theoretical discussion.
 Rondelet was one of the first modern architects to argue that the art of
building should emulate the science of engineering, that was based on the
principles of mathematics and physics.
P a g e 23 | 63


Jean Nicolas Louis Durand

• Jean Nicolas Louis Durand taught a course on architecture at the Ecole
Polytechnique which was without academic precedent.
• The classical Orders, he argued, were not the essence of architecture;
• rules for proportion should be derived from the nature of the material and
its use.
• Convenience, rather than beauty, was the reason for making architecture,
thus the architect had two problems to solve : how to design and build a
private building with the greatest convenience within a given budget;
• and how to design and build a public edifice with the greatest possible
economy.
• Durand sought to establish a universal building method by the application
of a normative building typology with which economic and appropriate
structures could be created through the modular permutation of fixed plan
types and alternative elevations- an interchangeable typology of
compositional parts that could be assembled or organized in various
combinations.
• Durand’s compositional methodology proved to be enormously influential
throughout Europe, especially in Germany. Economic factors, such as the
injunction that maximum floor area be obtained with minimum perimeter
construction, became the overriding criteria of design.
P a g e 24 | 63


th th
18 and 19 Century Context:

 300 years of homogeneous architecture
 During the 17th Century buildings were monolithic
 18th and 19th Centuries building were multilithic
 The age of Revolutions: American, French, and Industrial
 Social Order shifted to urban society
 Mass Production
 Age of Revision for Architecture
 No unifying authority or standards
 Revival modes, only signature style - pastiche of the past
 Recycled a bewildering variety of styles
 Chaotic, besot with traditions
 Science and Social innovations flourished
th
18 Century a New Pluralism

 Mishmash of reason and romance
 Pre Industrial life ruled by church as monarchy disintegrated
 Architects snatched Greek, Gothic, Chinese, Moorish, and Hindu styles
 English were the first to leave Baroque, Catholic, and overblown
architecture
 English style modeled 18th Century reverence for reason (austere style
during the Victorian Age.
 Late Century encouraged a revival of Medieval style
 Landscapes were designed to offer pensive and inspiring thought and
replaced geometric gardens
 No coherent style
P a g e 25 | 63


18TH CENTURY – THE ENLIGHTENMENT PERIOD:

The 18th century was described as an astounding century, heralded as the Age
of Reason. The Age was defined by a full social, scientific, intellectual and
cultural transformation. “The century will become more enlightened day by day,
so that all previous centuries will be lost in darkness by comparison.” In the 18th
century there were two routes to truth, both inspired by Descartes’ - Quest for
Knowledge. Rationalism and Empiricism.
 Rationalism - A means of constructing knowledge by deduction from
general principles as a route to truth. This is knowledge invented by the
human mind exercising pure reason. (Kant)
 Empiricism - The constructing of knowledge by observation of the facts of
experience as a route to truth.
Rationalism began as a 17th century ideology that led to the Enlightenment, a
period in history where reason was the primary instrument for justifying and
understanding the “hows” and “whys” of things and circumstances. The
Enlightenment was a time where concrete evidence through scientific
research flourished and Rationalism influenced all field of endeavors and even
simple daily tasks. In layman terms, to be rational is to be understandable,
measurable or definite. Using this as premise, Rationalism in architecture
therefore pertains to accuracy in designing and building the height, breadth or
depth of a structure Architectural Rationalism was a solid evidence of the
Enlightenment influence in the field of architecture. It continues to persist in the
modern world as an independent art movement though much of the modern
Rationalist designs have little resemblance to Enlightenment architecture. The
Enlightenment Architectural Rationalism was focused on being symmetrical,
having accurate measurements of classic shapes, and functionality. It clearly
reflected the spirit of the times where science, mathematics and logic were at
the peak of their influence.
Neoclassicism was a widespread movement under the Rationalist wing. It was
established in reaction to the flamboyant and seemingly excessive Baroque and
Rococo styles. During the neoclassicist boom, many artworks and structural
designs of the classical Greco-Roman era were recalled together with the
architectural works of Italian Andrea Palladio. Neoclassicist designs were
characterized as follows: symmetry, columns that functioned as support,
minimalistic design composed of basic geometric shapes, and an overlaid
triangular gable commonly known as pediment. The symmetry, functionality, and
geometrical aspects of the neoclassicist movement were defining characteristics
of the Rationalist ideology.
P a g e 26 | 63


Marc-Antoine Laugier
The abbé Marc-Antoine Laugier was a Jesuit priest and architectural theorist, lived
and worked in France during the 18th century. As a Jesuit priest, Laugier fulfilled
erudite education that surpassed theological frames. Furthermore, he was a highly
gifted person, being eloquent, perspicacious and skillful orator, writer and
translator, home de letter that produced significant works in music, architecture,
painting, history, diplomacy and preaching.
During his life, he was very respected by the highest cultural circles in France and
other parts of the world, he was elected a member of the Academy of Science in
Anger, Lion and Marsey, and his works were translated into the main world
languages. When he wrote his first book Essay on Architecture (1753), Laugier was
already more than forty years old. Until the end of his life, during the next sixteen
years, he published twelve books, as well as a significant number of articles,
translations and short texts.
Laugier’s views on architecture examined the whole history and theory of

architecture, starting from Vitruvius. The beliefs that were regarded as irrefutable
for centuries were considered wrong and vague by Laugier. The architecture that
was defined by the arranged cosmic order with numerous symbolic meanings was
now deprived of its metaphysical character.
Laugier was among the first theoreticians that used constructive logic that was
more powerful than the secret symbolic meaning of numbers and proportions in
architecture. With his radical attitudes he succeeded in starting a reformation of
architecture, stressing that renaissance models of thinking were long gone and
confirming his modernist views that were led by reason as the main postulate of
enlightenment. Following the crisis, and in order to find a stable premise for
architecture, Laugier proposes investigating the most original condition of
architecture: Nature. Good architecture is the authentic imitation of nature. Greek
architecture is still the finest because it is the best imitation (mimesis).
P a g e 27 | 63


His “Essai sur architecture” (1753) set out an interpretation of classicism as a logical
straightforward expression of the need for shelter. He was searching for the first
principles of architecture. He extolled the need for proper columns (pilasters were
an aberration – the bastard child of architecture). He argued for a return to the
antique principles as an antidote to all the accretions from the Renaissance
onwards that had hidden the essence of the origins of the columnar and trabeated
construction. Laugier describes primitive and idyllic pastoral life…the noble savage
seeking shelter from the element and the rustic hut model from which all the splendor
of architecture was derived.
“…it is above all important to think.” -Laugier
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF ARCHITECTURE:
Founded on simple nature. Nature indicates its rules. Example: The Primitive Hut
tells story of primitive man seeking shelter and building out of necessity. What
this man built became the basis for all architecture.
The Hut is made of the following architectural elements:
 The column
 The entablature
 The pediment
He wanted a "more rigorous" understanding of architecture and ornament: look
for precedents for classical architecture at the absolute roots of history. He
searched for absolute beauty, which in his primitive hut came from nature. Was
rooted in functional or structural basis. (This theory was the basis of the so-called
Rationalist movement.) Little basis in archeology or fact, and tangental basis in
P a g e 28 | 63


historical text. Like Vitruvius, Laugier places the origins of architectural forms in
nature: the first dwelling was built in the forest, with branches and trees. This differs
from the previous theories of Vitruvius in one important aspect: the hut is an abstract
concept as much as it is a material construction.
The Primitive Hut Idea by Laugier:The Primitive Hut represents the first architectural
idea.Laugier theorizes that man wants nothing but shade from the sun and shelter
from storms. "The man is willing to make himself an abode which covers but not buries
him,“ Laugier writes. "Pieces of wood raised perpendicularly, give us the idea of
columns. The horizontal pieces that are laid upon them, afford us the idea of
entablatures.“Branches form an incline that can be covered with leaves and
moss, "so that neither the sun nor the rain can penetrate therein; and now the
man is lodged."Laugier concludes that "The little rustic cabin that I have just
described, is the model upon which all the magnificences of architecture have
been imagined."
In the iconic frontispiece of his Books, an idyllic woman (perhaps the
personification of Architecture) points out a simple rustic cabin to a child
(perhaps the unknowing, naive architect). The structure she points to is simplistic
in design, uses basic geometric shapes, and is constructed from natural elements.
Laugier's Primitive Hut is his representation of the philosophy that all architecture
derives from this simple ideal. Shows beginnings of an understanding of column,
entablature, and pediments. Future architecture is based on these principles.
Columns must:
The faults:
Be strictly perpendicular to the ground
Be free-standing, to be expressed in a natural way
Be round, because nature makes nothing square
Be tapered from bottom to top in imitation of plants in nature
Rest directly on the floor
“Being engaged in the wall” is a fault because it detracts from the overall beauty
and aesthetic nature of columns. The use of pilasters should strictly be frowned upon
especially since in nearly every case columns could be used instead. Setting
columns upon pedestals is “like adding a second set of legs beneath the first pair.”
The Entablature must:
The Faults:
Always rest on its columns like a lintel. In its whole length it must not have any corner or
projection
Instead of a beam-like structure it becomes an arch Against nature because:
P a g e 29 | 63


Require massive piers and imposts They become pilasters Force columns to give
lateral support; columns are meant to give vertical support only. Not straight, but
broken with angles and projections. Why?
“Never put anything into a building for which one cannot give a sound reason.”
Nature is so, buildings should also be.
The Pediment must:
The faults:
Resent the gable of the roof never be anywhere except across the width of a
building. Be above the entablature.To erect the pediment on the long side of a
building. To make non-triangular pediments should not be curved, broken nor
scrolled.To pile pediments on top of each other. The Doric order (in columns):
Has the most beautiful base, but is difficult to use: Doric columns can never be
coupled successfully Interior angles become difficult because of the bases and
capitals must penetrate each other.
The Ionic order: Almost faultless, lighter and more delicate than the Doric
The column suffers because nature dictates that the heaviest part must always be at
the bottom, but the Ionic column is heavy at top
The base is ill-formed and could be eliminated
Offends against the true principles of nature
The Corinthian order: The greatest, most majestic order Beautiful, harmonious
composition. Architects should stop using anything by the acanthus leaf which “has
by nature the contour and curves which suit the leaves of the Corinthian capital.”
OBSERVATIONS ON ART OF BUILDING: On the Solidity of Buildings:

Building must be solid for long life, much like the ancients did
Solidity depends on two things: Choice of material and its efficient use
On Convenience:
The situation (site) must be considered to include views and ventilation

The planning (exterior and interior) must be suitable, comfortable, have good
circulation, and always include a courtyard The internal communications (servants
halls, stairways, etc) must be located for quick access On How to Observe
Bienseance in Buildings:
A building must be neither more nor less magnificent than is appropriate to its purpose.
P a g e 30 | 63


CONCEPT OF AESTHETICS:
By analyzing Laugier’s rationalist aesthetics, we may perceive three significant

tendencies that are everpresent in his aesthetic concept of architecture. These are,
vérité (truthfulness),
simplicité (simplicity)
Naturalisme (naturality).
“Beauty of buildings depends on three things: accuracy of proportions, elegance of
forms, and choice and
distribution of ornaments.”
Most ideal architectural examples as per Laugier Perrault’s east façade of Louvre and
Hardouin-Mansart’s chapel at Versallies. He was not an architect. His rationalistic
views were highly influential. His aesthetic theory is important in forming the classicist
style, and despite its radical character, it influenced many architects in France and
the rest of Europe. We may see Laugier as one of the first modernists considering his
structuralist logic of the constructive circuit of architecture and aesthetic modesty of
decoration.
Architects Influenced by Laugier:Sir John Soane, Le Corbusier , Thom Mayne
Why is Laugier's Primitive Hut Important?
The essay is considered a major treatise in architectural theory. It is often cited by

teachers of architecture and practicing architects even in the 21st century.
Laugier's expression is pro-Greek Classicism and reacts against the Baroque

ornamentation and decoration of his day. It established the argument for future
architectural movements, including 18th century Neoclassicism and the 21st
century trend toward unadorned, eco-friendly tiny homes and small dwellings. The
Primitive Hut idea supports a back-to-nature philosophy, a romantic idea which
gained popularity in the mid-18th century and influenced literature, art, music, and
architecture. Simplicity of design and the use of natural materials, what Laugier
believes are architectural essentials, are familiar ideas that have been embraced by
modern architects, including Frank Lloyd Wright.
P a g e 31 | 63


Etienne-Louis Boullee
Etienne-Louis Boullee (1728-99) a Parisian Architect and
Teacher again important due to his theoretical works. He
was a visionary French neoclassical architect whose
work greatly influenced contemporary architects and is
still influential today. He taught generations of pupils,
including Durand. From 1778 to 1788 he produced a great
range of visionary drawings based on those he used
for teaching and for entering architectural competitions.
It was as a teacher and theorist at the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées
between 1778 and 1788 that Boullée made his biggest impact, developing a
distinctive abstract geometric style. His work was characterized by the removal of all
unnecessary ornamentation, inflating geometric forms to a huge scale and
repeating elements such as columns in huge ranges.
He was "rediscovered" in the twentieth century and has influenced recent

architects such as Aldo Rossi. A visionary French neoclassical architect whose
work greatly influenced contemporary architects. For Boullée regularity, symmetry
and variety were the golden rules of architecture. His book Architecture, essai sur
l'art ("Essay on the Art of Architecture”), arguing for an emotionally committed
Neoclassicism, frequently employed symbolism appropriate to the use of the
building.
He emphasized the properties of geometric forms and their effect on

the psychology of the viewer. His work was characterized by the
removal of all unnecessary ornamentation, inflating geometric forms
to a huge scale and repeating elements such as columns in huge
ranges. He made a dramatic use of light and shadow to heighten
the effect of geometric forms, and brought out the potential of
mystery in building. His focus on polarity (offsetting opposite design
elements) and the use of light and shadow was highly innovative,
and continues to influence architects to this day.
P a g e 32 | 63


His “poetic” approach to architecture made extensive use of symbolism.
He responded to Laugier’s reductionist

themes by stripping all un-necessary
ornament from over-scaled purely
geometric forms –platonic solids. He
repeated elements such as columns in
huge long ranges and made h i s
architecture expressive of
its purpose.
(architecture parlante)
His Cenotaph to Newton is perhaps

his most famous design. An image of
the supreme work of the creator
revealed to mankind through science.
• Perhaps the most famous of Boulle´e’s
visionary designs is his cenotaph for
Isaac Newton, a gigantic spherical
monument dedicated to his theories
and lit by apertures cut into the upper
portion of the vault.
• It plays perfectly into Boulle´e’s

symbolism of forms and exploitation of
mysterious sources of
• light
• It is a sphere 150 m (490 ft) high

embedded in a circular base topped with
cypress trees.
• He used the sphere for its absolute

pure and perfect form, and also for its
surprisingly painterly qualities.
• The design of the memorial creates the effect of day and night.
P a g e 33 | 63


• The effect by night, when the sarcophagus is illuminated by the starlight

coming through the holes in the vaulting. The effect by day is an armillary
sphere hanging in the center that gives off a mysterious glow.
• He claimed that “Of all bodies, it offers largest surface to the eye and this
lends it majesty. It has an outline that is soft and as flowing as it is possible to
imagine”.
• Though the structure was never built, its design was engraved and
circulated widely in professional circles.
His “Architecture. Essai sur l’Art’ written in the 1790’s was not published until this
century. His work was characterized by the removal of all unnecessary
ornamentation, inflating geometric forms to a huge scale and repeating
elements such as columns in huge ranges.
Boullée promoted the idea of making architecture expressive of its

purpose, a doctrine that his detractors termed architecture parlante ("talking
architecture"), which was an essential element in Beaux- Arts architectural
training in the later 19th century.
• Architecture parlante ("talking architecture“ that explains its own function

or identity.), Boullée promoted the idea of making architecture expressive
of its purpose, a doctrine that his detractors termed architecture parlante
("talking architecture"), which was an essential element in Beaux-Arts
architectural training in the later 19th century.
P a g e 34 | 63


 • The phrase was originally associated with Claude Nicolas Ledoux,
and was extended to other
 Paris-trained architects of the Revolutionary period, Étienne-Louis Boullée,
and Jean-Jacques Lequeu.







 REVOLUTIONARY ARCHITECTURE
It is “revolutionary” or “visionary” because it pushed Neo-Classical ideas beyond

its time, thus inaugurating many modern architectural ideas.
Rational and sensationalist appreciation of architectural form. Monument and
monumentality.
Grandiloquent, symbolic, and monumental forms. A composition of self-sufficient
parts.
Beauty of masses, and simplicity of forms and surfaces, generated by elemental
geometric units. A poetics of “plainness”. “Architecture parlante”: an architecture
that speaks. Issues of character of a building: what is it for, what does it convey?
Expression of function and content. A romantic atmosphere of mood, effect and
atmosphere.
P a g e 35 | 63


CLAUDE-NICOLAS LEDOUX
(March 21, 1736 – November 18, 1806)
One of the most successful and celebrated Parisian

architects of the late 1700s, Claude-Nicolas
Ledoux developed an eclectic and
Visionary style combined with social ideals.
Ledoux was among the most prominent architects of the final decades
of the ancien régime one o f t h e M O S T PROMINENT earliest
exponents of F r e n c h Neoclassical architecture.
Ledoux began his practice as neoclassicism was

emerging as the preferred style among trend-setting
designers and clients, and he made a place for himself
among them.
In 1764 Ledoux began working for the Department of Water and Forests preparing
plans, deciding on repairs, and designing everything from cemeteries and schools to
roads and drinking fountains.
In 1771–1773, he achieved fame with two commissions,
• a pavilion at Louveciennes for Madame du Barry (1743–1793), who had recently

become Louis XV's mistress,
• and a house and private theater in Paris for Marie-Madeleine

Guimard (1743–1816), a prominent dancer at the Opéra.
Both women sought to use patronage of architecture and art to legitimize their
place in society, and Ledoux responded to their ambition with buildings attesting to
their (and his) discriminating and adventuresome taste.
P a g e 36 | 63


Hôtel Guimard, by Ledoux, designed ca. 1766
In the mid-1780s, Ledoux designed a new wall around the city of Paris with
over fifty customs posts, most of which were destroyed during the French
Revolution.
Ledoux's formal language was informed by a lifelong interest in three-dimensional

geometry and also by the compositional vocabulary of Andrea Palladio, which
he learned through study of Palladio's Four Books on Architecture and English
neo-Palladian architecture
Throughout his life, Ledoux designed simplified, powerful geometric forms.

Later his private houses became more eccentric, with odd layouts and
uneven elevations. He was one of the most prolific and greatest architects of
his time. Known for his pure neo-classicism but with clever geometry. (Many
buildings in Paris) The transformation of architectural meaning related to an
architectural problem;
P a g e 37 | 63


For example in his masterpiece
Chaux - a utopian town, - He
used simple geometry, the
sphere, pyramid, circle and
square. Simplified stripped down
classicism is mixed with allusions to
the pure geometries including
the Egyptian pyramid, a phallus
shaped brothel and a hooped
shaped house for a cooper.
The Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-

Senans (1775–1778) the Saline
de Chaux, is considered
Ledoux's masterpiece.
The significance of this plan is twofold: the circle. A perfect figure, evokes the
harmony of the ideal city and theoretically encloses a place of harmony for
common work, but it recalls also
contemporary theories of
organization and of official
surveillance, Important
example of an early
Enlightenment project in
which the architect based
his design on a philosophy
that favored arranging
buildings according to a
rational geometry
and a hierarchical relation
between the parts of the
project.
• He created a singular architectonic order, a new column formed of

alternating cylindrical and cubic stones superimposed for their plastic
effect. In this period, taste was returning to the antique, to the distinction
and the examination, of the taste for the "rustic" style.
P a g e 38 | 63


In Ledoux's unbuilt plans for the salt-producing town of Chaux, the hoop-
makers' houses are shaped like barrels, the river inspector's house straddles
the river, and an enormous brothel takes the shape of an erect phallus.
The Architecture is no longer taken from tradition the classical orders are
replaced by Euclidean solids –scale , geometry and symbolic intention. The
theatre of Besançon• The exterior of the building was designed as a severe
Palladian cube, adorned only by an almost Grecian neoclassical portico
of
six Ionic columns.
Figure 1-Interior was a revolution
• Ledoux achieved his ambition that the theatre could at the same time be a
place of social communion and shared entertainment while still maintaining a
strict hierarchy of the classes. Exterior was regarded as modern
In this book he took the opportunity of revising his earlier designs, making
them more rigorously neoclassical and up to date.
P a g e 39 | 63


Highlights of his Theory
Beauty lies in form making Sources of inspiration --- realms of intellect and
imagination existing Raw and ideal forms of geometric imagined elements -
classical orders /futuristic / Hyper classical fantasies.
abstract forms. He stressed on freedom of Modern Architecture from the

influence of the ancient rulers, models.
inventive forms, symbolic expression, social vision. His architecture’s

approach as architecture parlante or ‘‘speaking architecture.’’
Archetectonic order. Simple; consciously primitive components
Radical designs, imaginative, had willingness to take greater risks,

Revolutionary” because it is sharply severed ties with the past.
Originality, designer of visionary schemes “visionary” because of its goals

and methods. Proposed an entire ideal city that was never built Ardent
experimentalist,
Transformed Classical vocabulary to express new functions
Exploited effects of light and shadow; geometry and texture
Neoclassicist, Picturesque, Sublime, The English Landscape garden
Held high in esteem by modernists

Boullee and Ledoux emphasised the differences between the scientific and
artisitc” dimensions. Rational theory was qualified as science concerned with
construction. True art on the other hand was believed to consist in the
conception of rhetorical images. A lot of their work remained unbuilt - like
Piranesi they saw the value of speculation, of utopian dreaming and of
experimenting through drawing. Utopian visions of rchitecture and the city.
P a g e 40 | 63


19th CENTURY - STRUCTURAL RATIONALISM:
• Complete rejection of past styles and also a

search for new forms of ornament which could be
an expression of their own time.
• Effect of the French Theorist Eugene Viollet- Le- Duc
who proposed a new rational approach to
architecture based on rediscovering Gothic
principles of constructing ribbed vaults, only using
iron. Iron should be used honestly and left exposed
rather than hiding it by fake materials.
ART NOUVEAU MOVEMENT:
• A modern movement started in Europe around the start of the 20th

Century.
• Art Nouveau was in many ways a response to the Industrial
Revolution. Some artists and architects welcomed
technological progress and embraced the aesthetic
possibilities of new materials such as cast iron.
• Others deplored the shoddiness of mass-produced
machine-made goods and aimed to elevate the
decorative arts to the level of fine art by applying the
highest standards of craftsmanship and design to everyday
objects.
• Affected by the theories of Structural Rationalism (Viollet- Le- Duc ), John
Ruskin ( Gothic
ideas) and the Arts and Crafts movement.
P a g e 41 | 63


VIOLLET LE DUC:
 He was a French architect and theorist, famous for his

interpretive "restorations" of medieval buildings.
 Born in Paris, he was a major Gothic Revival architect.
 He was the architect hired to design the internal structure of the Statue
of Liberty.
 His philosophy was "to restore the building to a state
of completeness that may never have existed."
 Basic intervention theories of historic preservation are framed in the
dualism of the
 retention of the status quo versus a "restoration"
that creates something that never actually existed
in the past.
 Viollet-le-Duc advocated that restoration is a "means to reestablish [a
building] to a finished state, which
 may in fact never have actually existed at any given time.“
 His architectural theory was largely based on finding the ideal forms for
specific materials, and using these forms to create buildings.
 His writings centered on the idea that materials should be used 'honestly'.
He believed that the outward
 appearance of a building should reflect the rational construction of the
building.
 In Entretiens sur l'architecture, Viollet-le-Duc praised the Greek temple
for its rational representation of its construction. For him, "Greek
architecture served as a model for the correspondence of structure
and appearance." According to him-“In architecture there are two
necessary ways of being true. It must be
 true according to the program. To be true according to the program is
to fulfill exactly and simply the
 conditions imposed by need. And it must be true according to the
method of construction. This is to employ
 the materials according to their qualities and properties, purely questions
of symmetry and apparent form
P a g e 42 | 63


 are only secondary condition in the presence of our dominant
principles.”
 For Viollet-le Duc , these principles clearly precluded the architectural
tradition of French Classical
 Rationalism. In place of an ‘abstract’ international style he advocated a
return to regional building.
 His illustration to the Entretiens, which in some aspects anticipated Art
Nouveau, ostensibly indicated the kind of architecture that would
evolve from his principle of Structural Rationalism. He preffered not only
models but also methods which would free architecture from the
eclectic irrelevancies of historicism.
 In this way, his Entretiens came to serve as an inspiration to the avant
garde of the last quarter of 19th century. His methods penetrated to
those European countries where French cultural influence was strong
but tradition of classicism was weak. Eventually his ideas spread even to
England, where they influenced men such as Sir Gorge Gilbert Scott,
Alfred Waterhouse and even Norman Shaw. Outside France his thesis, in
particular its implicit cultural nationalism, had its most pronounced
impact on the works of Antonio Gaudi, Victor Horta, and Hendrik Petrus
Berlage.
 Viollet-le-Duc, formulated model of architectural history linking the frank
expression of building
 construction and materials to the progressive march of history. He was
increasingly aware of the impact of new materials like iron and plate
glass. He felt that the nineteenth century must try to formulate its own
style by finding forms appropriate to the new techniques, and to altered
social and economic conditions. In several unbuilt projects for new
buildings, Viollet-le-Duc applied the lessons he had derived from Gothic
architecture, applying its rational structural systems to modern building
materials such as cast iron.
 Main restorations
• Vezelay Abbay, France
• Holy Chapell, Paris
• Notre Dame, Paris
• City wall of Carcassone, France
• Pierrefonds castel, France.
(Reconstruction for Napoleon III) Viollet le Duc let his imagination run to
rebuild this castel near in the north of Paris.
P a g e 43 | 63


Vezelay Abbay, France (1840-1861) Notre Dame, Paris
Chateau de Pierrefonds (restored 1857-1885) The fortified city of

Carcassonne
The walled town of Carcasonne (restored 1853-1879)

Publications:
Throughout his career Viollet-le-Duc made notes and drawings, not
only for the buildings he was working on, but also on Romanesque,
Gothic and Renaissance buildings that were to be soon
demolished. His notes were helpful in his published works. His study
of medieval and Renaissance periods was not limited to
architecture, but extended to furniture, clothing, musical
instruments, armament, geology and so forth.All this work was
published, first in serial, and then as full-scale books, as:
• Dictionary of French Architecture from 11th to 16th Century
(1854–1868) (Dictionnaire raisonné de l'architecture
française du XIe au XVIe siècle) - Original (French) language
edition, including numerous illustrations.
P a g e 44 | 63


• Dictionary of French Furnishings (1858–1870) (Dictionnaire
raisonné du mobilier français de l'époque Carolingienne
à la Renaissance.)
• Entretiens sur l'architecture (in 2 volumes, 1863–72), in which
Viollet-le-Duc systematized his approach to architecture and
architectural education, in a system radically opposed to
that of the École des Beaux-Arts, which he had avoided in his
youth and despised. In Henry Van Brunt's translation, the
"Discourses on Architecture" was published in 1875, making it
available to an American audience little more than a
decade after its initial publication in France.
• Histoire de l'habitation humaine, depuis les temps préhistoriques
jusqu'à nos jours (1875).
Published in English in 1876 as Habitations of Man in All Ages.
Viollet-Le-Duc traces the history of domestic architecture
among the different "races" of mankind.
• L'art russe: ses origines, ses éléments constructifs, son
apogée, son avenir (1877), where Viollet- le-Duc applied his
ideas of rational construction to Russian architecture.
Unbuilt projects
• In several unbuilt projects for new buildings, Viollet-le-Duc
applied the lessons he had derived from Gothic
architecture, applying its rational structural systems to
modern building materials such as cast iron.
• He also examined organic structures, such as leaves and animal
skeletons, for inspiration.
• He was especially interested in the wings of bats, an
influence represented by his Assembly Hall project.
• Design for a concert hall, dated 1864, expressing Gothic
principles in modern materials; brick, stone and cast iron.
Entretiens sur l'architecture
P a g e 45 | 63


Concert hall plan, sketch by Viollet-le-Duc

Viollet-le-Duc's drawings of iron trusswork were innovative for the time. Many of
his designs emphasizing iron would later influence the Art Nouveau style, most
noticeably in the work of Hector Guimard. His writings inspired some American
architects, including Frank Furness, John Wellborn Root, Louis Sullivan, and
Frank Lloyd Wright
Plan for a vaulted hall,sketch by Viollet-le-Duc
P a g e 46 | 63


Sketch for market shelter design
"I thought [Viollet-le-Duc's] Raisone was the only sensible book on
architecture in the world. I later obtained copies for my sons. This
book alone, enabled us to keep our faith in architecture, in spite of
architects."
—Frank Lloyd Wright
 Viollet-le-Duc has concerned itself with the modern political

circumstances that surrounded the formation of a theory and practice
of national monument preservation.
 Historians of medieval architecture, in particular, have long decried the
heavy hand of Viollet-le-Duc's restoration, at times involving such a
thorough changing of the confused palimpsests of the passage of time
to achieve his famous paradoxical dictum that "to restore an edifice is
not to maintain it, repair or remake it, it is to re-establish it in a complete
state that may never have existed at any given moment in the past."
P a g e 47 | 63


JOHN RUSKIN: (8 February 1819 – 20 January 1900)
• John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the

Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman,
watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and
philanthropist.
• Ruskin’s developing interest in architecture, and
particularly in the Gothic revival, led to the first
work to bear his name, The Seven Lamps of
Architecture. (1849).
• It contained 14 plates etched by the author. The title refers to seven
moral categories that Ruskin considered vital to and inseparable from all
architecture: sacrifice, truth, power, beauty, life, memory and
obedience. All would provide recurring themes in his work.
• The 'Lamps': The essay was published in book form in May 1849 and is
structured with eight chapters; an introduction and one chapter for
each of the seven 'Lamps‘, which represent the demands that good
architecture must meet, expressed as directions in which the association
of ideas may take the observer:
1. Sacrifice dedication of man's craft to God, as visible proofs of man's
love and obedience.
2. Truth: handcrafted and honest display of materials
and structure. No fancy facades hiding poor
construction. No wood pretending to be stone.
3. Power : buildings should be thought of in terms of
their massing and reach towards the sublimity of
nature by the action of the human mind upon them
and the organization of physical effort in
constructing buildings. A building is a shape, a
mass. Its immensity in comparison to man has its
own effect apart from its ornamentation. The
architect’s job is to display this shape to its best
effect.
Ruskin considers setting and view and line. A
building set on a hill can have its mass well
displayed. That same building with massive
mountains as the backdrop may not seem so
consequential.
P a g e 48 | 63


Surround it with buildings and you may find that you can never get
your self in a position to see the whole.
4. Beauty :aspiration towards God expressed in ornamentation drawn
from nature, His creation.
Here John Ruskin refers to skin and ornamentation. He draws heavily
on nature, because nature is our school master for beauty. Therefore
art in our buildings should be imitative of the forms and lin es and
shapes we see in nature. If a column seems beautiful it is because we
see them all around us in the stems of plants. If a pointed arch is
pleasing to the eye it is because that shape was first pleasing as the
shape of a leaf. He also castigates some ornamentation that is not
imitative of nature, such as the Greek Key, a running spiral design
common in some Greek architecture.
5. Life: buildings should be made by human hands, so that the joy of
masons and stonecarvers is associated with the expressive freedom
given them. Here John Ruskin refers to skin and ornamentation. He
draws heavily on nature, because nature is our school master for
beauty. Therefore art in our buildings should be imitative of the forms
and lines and shapes we see in nature.
If a column seems beautiful it is because we see them all around us in
the stems of plants. If a pointed arch is pleasing to the eye it is
because that shape was first pleasing as the shape of a leaf. He
also castigates some ornamentation that is not imitative of nature,
such as the Greek Key, a running spiral design common in some
Greek architecture.
6. Memory:buildings should respect the culture from which they have
developed. Buildings (and houses)
should reflect the culture and what went on before. They in turn will
inform the culture that follows. John Ruskin was not a big fan of
innovative disruption. Even gradual change is something to be
distrusted. In some ways he was the ultimate cultural conservative.
7. Obedience:no originality for its own sake, but conforming to the finest
among existing English values, in particular expressed through the
"English Early Decorated" Gothic as the safest choice of style. “The
architecture of a nation is great only when it is as universal and as
established as it language”. John Ruskin asserted that England should
have one school of architecture, a type of Gothic that was peculiarly
English.
P a g e 49 | 63


• Ruskin's theories of architecture, and his emphasis on the importance of
the Medieval Gothic style. He praised the Gothic for what he saw as its
reverence for nature and natural forms; the free, unfettered expression of
artisans constructing and decorating buildings; and for the organic
relationship he perceived between worker and guild, worker and
community, worker and natural environment, and between worker and
God.
• The Stones of Venice
• is a three-volume treatise on Venetian art and architecture by English
art historian John Ruskin, first published from 1851 to 1853.
• The Stones of Venice examines Venetian architecture in
detail, describing for example over eighty churches.
• He discusses architecture of Venice's Byzantine,Gothic and
Renaissance periods, and provides a general history of the
city.
• Ruskin's strong rejection of Classical tradition in The Stones of Venice typifies
the inextricable mix of aesthetics and morality in his thought. For Ruskin, the
Gothic style in architecture embodied the same moral truths he sought to
promote in the visual arts. It expressed the 'meaning' of architecture—as a
combination of the values of strength, solidity and aspiration—all written, as it
were, in stone. He also argued that no new style was needed to redress this
problem, as the appropriate styles were already known to man. The 'truest'
architecture was therefore, the older Gothic of medieval cathedrals and
Venice.
• Ruskin associated Classical values with modern developments, in
particular with the demoralising consequences of the industrial revolution,
resulting in buildings such as the Crystal Palace, which he criticised.
Ruskin's distaste for oppressive standardisation led to later works attacking
Laissez-faire capitalism which he considered to be at the root of it. His
ideas provided inspiration for the Arts and Crafts Movement.
• Ruskin's belief in preservation of ancient buildings had a significant
influence on later thinking about the distinction between conservation
and restoration. Ruskin was a strong proponent of the former, while his
contemporary, Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, promoted the latter.
• For Ruskin, the "age" of a building was crucially significant as an aspect in
its preservation: "For, indeed, the greatest glory of a building is not in its
stones, not in its gold. Its glory is in its Age, and in that deep sense of
voicefulness, of stern watching, of mysterious sympathy, nay, even of
approval or condemnation, which we feel in walls that have long been
washed by the passing waves of humanity.”
P a g e 50 | 63


• QUOTES:
• “No architecture is so haughty as that which is simple.”
• “Essence of architecture consisted not the necessary aspects of a building
but those features that were
unnecessary. Decoration was what distinguished architecture from mere
construction.”
• Architecture is something more than utilitarian and indicates a spiritual
aesthetic and beneficial context.
• Goodness of spirit and greatness of architecture go together. Good
architecture could result only from the efforts of good man working in the
context of a healthy society.
P a g e 51 | 63


QUATREMÈRE DE QUINCY:
21 October 1755 – 28 December 1849
• French ,archaeologist, architectural theorist,
• a Freemason,an effective arts administrator
• influential writer on art, Quatremère did not write a formal treatise; instead,
he was commissioned to write the first formal dictionary of architecture.
• What does writing a dictionary accomplish?
1.A need for clarification and careful distinctions between meanings
of words that had overtime, accrued multiple ambiguous meanings
and connotations.
2. For the first time, instead of writing for a patron or institutional
privilege, Quatremère writes for the public.
3. In an age of expanding readership and scholarly academic
professionalism, the dictionary was easily produced and equally a
readily consumed object.
• In 1791-92 he orchestrated the conversion of the Church of Ste-
Geneviève in Paris (under the direction of Jean-Baptiste Rondelet)
into the Panthéon, infilling the windows to give it the character of
a mausoleum.
• He was the first director of Ecole des Beaux-Arts,

• Quatremère de Quincy was the author of numerous articles and
books. Between 1788 and 1825 he edited the Encyclopédie
Méthodique, to which he contributed much of the text. His
Dictionnaire historique de l'Architecture was published in 1832-33.He
wrote biographies of several artists: Antonio
Canova (1823), Raphael (1824) and Michelangelo (1835).
P a g e 52 | 63


IDEA OF IMITATION
• Quatremère believed that architecture was imitative of nature in two ways:
1. In the details of nature – like the certain characteristics of an individual
2. In nature as a collective whole – like refering to a specific species
• In regards to Laugier’s hut:
o Architecture has no direct model in nature that can be concretely
considered an origin.
o The hut is merely the beginning, not an origin because a certain distance
had
o to be traveled in architectural theory to arrive at it.
o Influence should be seen, not in a material sense, but in a metaphorical
one.
• Nature offers three kinds of materials:
o Earth – when made into bricks, ranks among stone.
o Stone – projections and cornices received their form from imitating wood
o Wood – offers a vast array of analogies, inductions and free assimilations
• ORIGINS OF ARCHITECTURE
• Quatremere acknowledged the importance of Laugier's theory by
dedicating an entry to the word
'Cabane' in the first of the three volumes of his Encyclopedie Methodique,
published between 1788 and
1825. In this entry, Quatremere included some excerpts of Laugier's Essai,
along with other passages from
Vitruvius' account of the origins of architecture
• Quatremere admits that there cannot be only one model from which all
architecture is derived.
• Quatremere was weil aware that there were styles in architecture that did
not evolve from the Greco- Roman model, like Egyptian or Chinese. He
considered though that every style began with a first model whose form
had been the result of necessity (besoin), meaning that the form of those
P a g e 53 | 63


models had been determined by the conditions of the place, like
climate, productions of the country, and the Iifestyle of the inhabitants
• Quatremere proposed then three different primitive models from which
every architectural style would have derived:
1. Hut –
• Post and lintel
construction
• Transposed into stone and became a model for Greek architecture
post and lintel construction
2. Cave
• Heavy dark interiors marked religious architecture of the Egyptians
3. Tent
• Light and mobile structure shows traces in wooden structures of the
Chinese.
• Each of the three types originated as shelter for a kind of people in a
particular place, all bound by the laws of necessity, through use,
climate, or country.
• According to Quatremere, the character of the first model determined the
characteristics of the style.
Thus, he thought that Greek architecture is superior to all others because it
started from a superior model, the primitive hut. By the same token, he
considered Egyptian architecture inferior to the Greek because it derived
from a less sophisticated model, the cave. And he dismissed Chinese
architecture on the grounds that the model on which it was based, the
tent, had too few things to imitate.
• ARCHITECTURE & LANGUAGE

• TYPE –is an object with respect to which each artist can conceive
works of art that may have no resemblance to each other
• MODEL – is an object that should be repeated as is
• CHARACTER – implies something more expressive than type.
• Quatremère distinguishes three meanings of architectural character:
1. Essential Character – natural character, the purest simplest essence of
something
P a g e 54 | 63


2. Distinctive Character – refers to a building’s dominant quality
3. Relative Character – two parts
• Ideal – art of architecture metaphysically considered
• Imitative – allows for sensuous ideas through manipulation of
forms
*Relative character is much like that of ideal beauty and imitative beauty
• Within Quatremere's Encyclopedie Methodique, character is an active

engagement in the process of altering the relationship between
appearance and meaning. It is less concerned with the state of an
object, but with the qualities and the impressions that imitation
engenders in the public. An object put through a successful process of
imitation engages the moral and intellectual interests of the public with
strong character. Strong character can be sensed in the singularity and
distinctiveness of an object.
• Quatremére de Quincy tried to define the concept of type by comparing
‘model’ and ‘type.’ He defined
‘model’ as a mechanical reproduction of an object and ‘type’ as a
metaphorical entity. The model is a form to be copied or imitated: “all is
precise and given in the model”. Type, on the contrary, is something that
can act as a basis for the conception of works, which bear no
resemblance to one another: “all is more or less vague in the type”.
• The architectural ‘type’ was at once ‘pre-existent germ,’ origin and
primitive cause. With Quatremére de
Quincy’s work, the idea of type was explicitly and systematically theorized
for the first time in the history
of architecture.
• The Oxford dictionary definition of type reflects this understanding: “by
which something is symbolized or figured, anything having a symbolical
signification, a symbol, or emblem.” The term Typology was used to refer to
the study of types; the comparative analysis and classification of structural
or other characteristics into types. Typology referred to the study of sets
that are recognizable through the coherence determined by the
repetition of a single cultural type.
• POETIC ORDER
• Quatremère’s last theory is a metaphysical one that distinguishes the
source of rules, namely principles.
• Principles are considered to be simple truths from which many lesser truths
or rules are derived.
P a g e 55 | 63


• Quatremère’s four classes of rules (first two are based on nature and
the second two are based on conventions):
1. Reason or “the nature of things” - The theory of art in architecture –
imitation, invention,
principles, rules
2. Constitution of the soul, mind, and senses - Beauty in
architecture – symmetry, eurythmy, proportion, ordonnance
3. Authority of precedents - Retrieval of traditional knowledge –
antique, restoration, restitution
4. Even habit and prejudice - Theoretical parameters influencing
renewal within tradition –
indissociable couples imitation and invention, conventions and
genius.
• Quatremère de Quincy’s dictionary is composed according to
criteria of historical, metaphysical, theoretical, elementary or
didactic, practical reference.
• Differential levels of theory:
1. Didactic – instucts the architect about the rules and percepts of the
profession.
2. Practical – informs the architect of all that has been achieved in
architecture in the past.
3. Metaphysical – fundamental essence and spirit behind the
architecture of a period.
P a g e 56 | 63

Theory of Architecture-2 | Module 1 [15ARC2.3]
Even semester| 2017 By: Ar. SubhadhaBattina

GOTTFRIED SEMPER: 29
(November 1803 – 15 May 1879)
• Gottfried Semper was a German architect, art critic,

Architectural historian, a professor of architecture,
• He designed and built the Semper Opera House in Dresden
between 1838 and 1841.
• Developed ideas about technology, architecture and history.
• Leading exponent of renaissance revival.
• Author of Four Elements of Architecture and several books on style and
theory.
• Leading architectural theorist of 19th C on polychromy and
polychromy in antiquity.and professor of architecture, who designed
and built the Semper Opera House in Dresden between 1838 and
1841.
•
• These are colored depictions from Semper’s early travels around Europe.
• Details that are depicted come from own investigations around the temple.
• Ideas based on influences from Hittorf
• Believed paint was used on classical buildings as a protective
material(Greek, Etruscan, Egyptian)
• There is proof that paint still exists on these buildings
• Statues from cultures were polychromatic instead their current monochrome
appearance
• Colour had symbolic associations
• Color is an expression of artistic freedom
• Works in Architecture
• Semper designed works at all scales, from a baton for Richard Wagner to
major urban interventions like the re-design of the Ringstraße in Vienna.
Leading exponent of renaissance revival.
57


• Dresdon
1. Hoftheater-1841(destroyed by fire in 1869)
2. Villa Rosa- 1839 (destroyed in WWII)
3. Semper Synagogue-1838( destroyed during

Kristallnacht 1938)
4. Opeheim Palace-1848)
5. Painting Gallery –(1848)
6. Neus Hoftheater (Semperopera) Zurich- 1864

• Zurich
1. Polytechnical School (ETH Zurich)-1864
2. Observatory – 1864
3. Winterthur
4. City Hall – 1864
•
1. Muncipal Theater -
2. Museum of Art
3. Natural History
In 1838-40 a synagogue was built in Dresden to Semper's

design, it was ever afterward called the Semper Synagogue
and is noted for its Moorish Revival interior style.The
Synagogue's exterior was built in romanesque style so as not
to call attention to itself.
58


Dresden, Interior of the first Hoftheater (Semper Oper)

• The first opera house Semperoper around 1850
• The Semperoper is the opera house (Saxon State Opera) and the concert
hall of the (Saxon State Orchestra). It is also home to the Semperoper ballet.
The opera house was originally built by the architect Gottfried Semper in
1841. After a devastating fire in 1869, the opera house was rebuilt, partly
again by Semper, and completed in
1878. The opera house has a long history of premieres, including major
works by Richard Wagner and Richard
Stra
uss.
• The building style itself is debated among many, as it has features that
appear in three styles; Early Renaissance and Baroque, with Corinthian style
pillars typical of Greek classical revival. Perhaps the most suitable label for
this style would be eclecticism, where influences from many styles are used, a
practice most common during this period. Nevertheless, the opera building,
Semper's first, is regarded as one of the most beautiful European opera
houses.
59


• Semper's (second) Dresden Opera House as it is today

• When the first opera building was burnt down in 1869, King John, on the
urging of the citizenry, commissioned. Semper to build a new one. Semper
produced the plans, but left the actual construction to his son, Manfred.
• it was built in Neo-Renaissance style
• The building is considered to be a prime example of "Dresden Baroque
Revival" architecture.
• Publications
• He published Die vier Elemente der Baukunst (The Four Elements of
Architecture) in 1851 and Wissenschaft, Industrie und Kunst (Science,
Industry and Art) in 1852.
These works would ultimately provide the groundwork for his most widely
regarded publication, Der Stil in den technischen und tektonischen Künsten
oder Praktische Ästhetik, which was published in two volumes in 1861and
1863. (Style in the Technical and Tectonic Arts; or, Practical Aesthetics)
• Semper wrote extensively about the origins of architecture, especially in his

book The Four Elements of Architecture from 1851,
• THE FOUR ELEMENTS OF ARCHITECTURE:
• Published in 1851, it is an attempt to explain the origins of architecture
through the lens of anthropology. The book divides architecture into four
distinct elements: the hearth, the roof, the enclosure and the mound. The
origins of each element can be found in the traditional crafts of ancient
'barbarians':
1. Hearth 2. Roof 3. Enclosure 4.Mound
60


• Hearth was the first element created: "The first
sign of settlement and rest after the hunt, the battle,
and wandering in the desert is today, as when the first
men lost paradise, the setting up of the fireplace and
the lighting of the reviving, warming, and food
preparing flame. Around the hearth the first groups
formed: around the hearth the first groups assembled;
around it the first alliances formed; around it the first
rude religious concepts were put into the customs of a
cult." "Throughout all phases of society the hearth
formed that sacred focus around which took order
and shape. It is the first and most important element of
architecture. Around it were grouped the other three
elements: the roof, the enclosure, and the mound. The
protecting negations or defenders of the hearths flame
against three hostile elements of nature."
• Enclosures (walls) were said to have their origins in weaving. Just as

fences and pens were woven sticks, the most basic form of a spatial
divider still seen in use in parts of the world today is the fabric screen.
• Only when additional functional requirements are placed on the
enclosure (such as structural weight-
bearing needs) does the materiality of the wall change to something
beyond fabric.
• The mat and its use in primitive huts interchangeably as floors,
walls, and draped over frames was considered by Gottfried
Semper to be the origins of architecture.
• Sempers Four Elements of Architecture were an attempt at a universal
theory of architecture.”
• The Four Elements of Architecture was not the classification of a
specific typology but rather was more universal in its attempt to
offer a more general theory of architecture.”
• Rather than describing one building typology as being the beginning, he
considers what assemblies and
systems are universal in all indigenous primitive structures.”
• The Four Elements of Architecture as an archeologically driven
theory stressed functionalism as a prerequisite to intentionality
61


• Semper continues to explore the four elements more closely in
subsequent works such as Der Stils
Style in the Technical and Tectonic Arts; or, Practical Aesthetics
• A richly illustrated survey of the technical arts

(textiles, ceramics, carpentry, masonry),
• Semper's analysis of the preconditions of style
forever changed the interpretative context for
aesthetics, architecture, and art history.
• Style, Semper believed, should be governed
by historical function, cultural affinities, creative
free will, and the innate properties of each
medium.
• Thus, in an ambitious attempt to turn nineteenth-
century artistic discussion away from historicism,
aestheticism, and materialism, Semper developed in
Der Stil a
complex picture of stylistic change based on scrutiny of specific objects
and a remarkable grasp of cultural
variety.
• anyone trying to understand Wrights use of concrete as a textile,
Frampton's tectonic culture, or Arup's sensible methods of
construction. It's all here and more.
Zürich period (1855 - 1871)
as Polytechnikum 1865The City Hall in Winterthur
62


• Later life (from 1871) Vienna
• Semper was assigned to submit a proposal for locating new buildings in
conjunction with redevelopment of the Ringstrasse.
• In 1869 he designed a gigantic 'Imperial Forum' which was not realized.
• The National Museum of Art History and the National Museum of Natural
History were erected, however, opposite the Palace according to his plan, as
was the Burgtheater.
• In 1871 Semper moved to Vienna to undertake the projects.
• During construction, repeated disagreements with his appointed associate
architect (Karl Freiherr von Hasenauer), led Semper to resign from the project in
1876.
• In the following year his health began to deteriorate. He died two years later
while on a visit to Italy and is buried in the Protestant Cemetery, Rome.
The (new) Burgtheater
• The theatre was moved to a new building on the Ringstrasse which had been
designed by Gottfried
Semper und Karl Hasenauer and opened its doors to the public in October
1888.
The redesign of the Ringstrasse in Vienna
63

Toa2 Notes1-M1 PDF

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Toa2 Notes1-M1 PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

K.S.

Architectural theory is the act of thinking, discussing, or most importantly

Let’s go back in time

This course will

Architectural theory in the West begins with Vitruvius. Famous Roman

The Ten Books on Architecture was written

Books consist of dissertations on a wide variety of subjects relating to architecture,

The Need for a System of Proportions

• Renaissance (ca. 1400–1500); also known as the Quattrocento and

Leon Battista Alberti

Alberti never received a formal architectural education. His architectural ideas

To give structure and decoration to facades,

In 1450 Alberti was commissioned to transform the Gothic church of S.

San Maria Novella basilica, florence, Italy (1456–1470):

Villa Capra (Villa Rotunda)

Context-Post Renaissance & French academic tradition

• Baroque Era - beginning 1600 A.D.

French Academic Tradition

In response to the perceived architectural excesses of the baroque period, the

 After graduation he started a career as a doctor of medicine and later on

Claude’s brother, Charles, was assistant to J.-B. Colbert, the superintendent of

Perrault’s architecture projects include also several other building in Paris:

Jean Baptiste Rondelet

Jean Nicolas Louis Durand

18 and 19 Century Context:

18 Century a New Pluralism

18TH CENTURY – THE ENLIGHTENMENT PERIOD:

Laugier’s views on architecture examined the whole history and theory of

“…it is above all important to think.” -Laugier

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF ARCHITECTURE:

The Hut is made of the following architectural elements:

OBSERVATIONS ON ART OF BUILDING: On the Solidity of Buildings:

The situation (site) must be considered to include views and ventilation

By analyzing Laugier’s rationalist aesthetics, we may perceive three significant

Architects Influenced by Laugier:Sir John Soane, Le Corbusier , Thom Mayne

Why is Laugier's Primitive Hut Important?

The essay is considered a major treatise in architectural theory. It is often cited by

Laugier's expression is pro-Greek Classicism and reacts against the Baroque

He was "rediscovered" in the twentieth century and has influenced recent

He emphasized the properties of geometric forms and their effect on

His “poetic” approach to architecture made extensive use of symbolism.

He responded to Laugier’s reductionist

His Cenotaph to Newton is perhaps

• It plays perfectly into Boulle´e’s

• It is a sphere 150 m (490 ft) high

• He used the sphere for its absolute

• The effect by night, when the sarcophagus is illuminated by the starlight

Boullée promoted the idea of making architecture expressive of its

• Architecture parlante ("talking architecture“ that explains its own function

It is “revolutionary” or “visionary” because it pushed Neo-Classical ideas beyond

One of the most successful and celebrated Parisian

Ledoux began his practice as neoclassicism was

In 1771–1773, he achieved fame with two commissions,

• a pavilion at Louveciennes for Madame du Barry (1743–1793), who had recently

• and a house and private theater in Paris for Marie-Madeleine

Hôtel Guimard, by Ledoux, designed ca. 1766

Ledoux's formal language was informed by a lifelong interest in three-dimensional

Throughout his life, Ledoux designed simplified, powerful geometric forms.

The Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-

• He created a singular architectonic order, a new column formed of

Figure 1-Interior was a revolution

Highlights of his Theory

abstract forms. He stressed on freedom of Modern Architecture from the