Architecture in its relations to art, customs and legislation
By Claude-Nicolas Ledoux (1736-1806). Excerpt from the book 'Architectural Theory'
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Like many other important architects of the Revolutionary period, such as Étienne-Louis Boullée (1728-1799) or Jean-Baptiste Rondelet (1734-1829), Claude-Nicolas Ledoux had also attended the influential school of Jacques-François Blondel (1705/08-1774). He very quickly assumed the position of an architect much in demand, and from 1771 onwards held the high-ranking position of Inspector of the Royal Salt Mine in Franche-Comté. This line of employment proved to be decisive in the development of his theories since, being so far away from Paris, he was more involved with engineering projects, forestry, canal building and questions of logistics and organization than designing illustrious buildings. As was the case with Boullée, Ledoux cannot be considered an architect of the Revolution, as is sometimes maintained. This would almost have brought him to the scaffold, and anyway the architect had been involved in his theoretical work long before 1789.
With its opulent text and pictures, the treatise L'Architecture considérée sous le rapport de l'art, des moeurs et de la législation, (and he had planned it to be even more magnificent) was not the first work that attempted to structure the new utopian society along strict architectural lines, or to express itself through architecture. Nevertheless the work is without doubt one of the most demanding examples of a tradition that, in a particular way, was to become so established in the 20th century.
In verbose language, dripping in pathos, he presents a world-embracing architectural vision that knows no social barriers in terms of the different estates but that sets out to structure society according to its activities, in a monumental and highly visual way by means of architecture. On the one hand, there is an element of Rousseau's idea of the social contract, as well as the notions of the Physiocrats that developed in France in the second half of the 18th century. This initial model of a national economy is based on a natural cycle within a closed state system. A neverending succession of acts of exchange, as in a "natural" sense of order like the circulation of blood, was supposed to constantly maintain the production, processing and circulation of goods.
Within this system all social classes, in particular those working in agriculture were to play a relevant part. For Ledoux this meant that architecture should no longer bear witness to the social standing of the owner or user, but should rather be an expression of the crafts and labour carried out there, and of their social relevance. For this reason, the concept of architecture parlante, "speaking" or "eloquent" descriptive architecture, is given a completely new function not covered by the overall term convenance, in other words appropriateness in terms of the social hierarchy, but by that of education.
Page [1] [2]
Page [1] [2]
Like many other important architects of the Revolutionary period, such as Étienne-Louis Boullée (1728-1799) or Jean-Baptiste Rondelet (1734-1829), Claude-Nicolas Ledoux had also attended the influential school of Jacques-François Blondel (1705/08-1774). He very quickly assumed the position of an architect much in demand, and from 1771 onwards held the high-ranking position of Inspector of the Royal Salt Mine in Franche-Comté. This line of employment proved to be decisive in the development of his theories since, being so far away from Paris, he was more involved with engineering projects, forestry, canal building and questions of logistics and organization than designing illustrious buildings. As was the case with Boullée, Ledoux cannot be considered an architect of the Revolution, as is sometimes maintained. This would almost have brought him to the scaffold, and anyway the architect had been involved in his theoretical work long before 1789.
With its opulent text and pictures, the treatise L'Architecture considérée sous le rapport de l'art, des moeurs et de la législation, (and he had planned it to be even more magnificent) was not the first work that attempted to structure the new utopian society along strict architectural lines, or to express itself through architecture. Nevertheless the work is without doubt one of the most demanding examples of a tradition that, in a particular way, was to become so established in the 20th century.
In verbose language, dripping in pathos, he presents a world-embracing architectural vision that knows no social barriers in terms of the different estates but that sets out to structure society according to its activities, in a monumental and highly visual way by means of architecture. On the one hand, there is an element of Rousseau's idea of the social contract, as well as the notions of the Physiocrats that developed in France in the second half of the 18th century. This initial model of a national economy is based on a natural cycle within a closed state system. A neverending succession of acts of exchange, as in a "natural" sense of order like the circulation of blood, was supposed to constantly maintain the production, processing and circulation of goods.
Within this system all social classes, in particular those working in agriculture were to play a relevant part. For Ledoux this meant that architecture should no longer bear witness to the social standing of the owner or user, but should rather be an expression of the crafts and labour carried out there, and of their social relevance. For this reason, the concept of architecture parlante, "speaking" or "eloquent" descriptive architecture, is given a completely new function not covered by the overall term convenance, in other words appropriateness in terms of the social hierarchy, but by that of education.
Page [1] [2]
The auditorium of the theatre in Besançon is reflected in an eye
The saline town of Chaux; plan of the cemetery