UNIT I - NEO CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE AND ENLIGHTENMENT

ARCHITECTS

INTRODUCTION TO CLASSICISM
CLASSICISM in architecture developed during the Italian Renaissance, notably in the
writings and designs of LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI and the work of FILIPPO
BRUNELLESCHI. It places
1. EMPHASIS ON SYMMETRY,
2. PROPORTION,
3. GEOMETRY,
4. ORDERLY ARRANGEMENTS OF COLUMNS,
5. PILASTERS AND
6. LINTELS AND
7. THE REGULARITY OF PARTS as they are demonstrated in the architecture of
Classical antiquity and in particular, the architecture of Ancient Rome.
The use of semicircular arches, hemispherical domes, niches and aedicules ("little
building") is a common framing device in both Classical architecture and Gothic
architecture. An ædicular frame treats a window or a niche in a section of wall as if it
were a building, sometimes with columns or pilasters flanking the opening. This style
quickly spread to other Italian cities and then to France, Germany, England, Russia and
elsewhere. Building off of these influences, the seventeenth-century architects INIGO
JONES and CHRISTOPHER WREN firmly established classicism in England.

NEO CLASSICISM
BIRTH OF NEO CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE:-
The neoclassical movement that produced “Neoclassical architecture” began after A.D.
1765, AS A REACTION AGAINST BOTH THE SURVIVING BAROQUE AND ROCOCO
STYLES, and as a desire to return to the PERCEIVED "PURITY" OF THE ARTS OF ROME.

Neoclassical architecture was in PART REACTION TO THE EXCESS OF BAROQUE,

ROCOCO and was partly a consequence of new discoveries of Greek, Roman
architecture.
Neoclassical Art and Architecture, art produced in Europe and North America
from about 1750 through the early 1800s, marked by the emulation of Greco-Roman
forms.
Neoclassicism first gained influence in PARIS, through a generation of French art
students trained at the French Academy in Rome.
In Paris, 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.The finest examples of this style
were civic buildings and private houses.
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ORIGINS OF NEO CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE:

 The architecture of Neo Classicism seems to have emerged out of two different but
related developments which radically transformed the relationship between MAN and
NATURE.
 The FIRST was a sudden in crease in mans capacity to exercise control over nature,
which by the mid 17th century had begun to advance beyond the technical frontiers
of the renaissance.
 The SECOND was a fundamental shift in the nature of human consciousness, in
response to major changes taking place in society, which gave birth to a new cultural
formation that was equally appropriate to the lifestyles of the declining aristocracy
and the rising bourgeoisie.
 Neoclassical architecture became an INTERNATIONAL STYLE; each country held some
distinct characteristic in their style.It was prevalent in France, Germany and England.
 The architects of the 18thcentury searched for a new style. Their motivation was not
simply to copy the ancients but to obey the principles on which their work had been
based.
 In its purest form it is a style principally derived from the “ARCHITECTURE OF
CLASSICAL GREECE”.

FEATURES OF NEO CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE

 Neoclassical, or "new" classical, architecture DESCRIBES BUILDINGS THAT ARE
INSPIRED BY THE CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE OF ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME.
 A Neoclassical building is likely to have some or all of these features:
1. SYMMETRICAL SHAPE.
2. TALL COLUMNS THAT RISE UP TO THE FULL HEIGHT OF THE BUILDING.
3. TRIANGULAR PEDIMENT.
4. DOMED ROOF.

NEOCLASSICAL STYLE- ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERISTICS

 Neoclassical buildings are characterized by CLEAN, ELEGANT LINES AND
UNCLUTTERED APPEARANCES.
 In Neoclassical ARCHITECTURE ORDERS ARE USED STRUCTURALLY rather than as a
form of decoration.
 Columns ARE FREE-STANDING, SUPPORTING ENTABLATURES.
 ROOF LINES ARE GENERALLY FLAT AND HORIZONTAL, without towers /domes.
 FACADES tend to BE LONG AND FLAT.
 Classical proportion maintained on the exterior of the building.
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 MINIMAL DECORATION on the exterior.


NEOCLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE IN ENGLAND
In England, where the rococo had never been fully accepted, the impulse to redeem the
excess of baroque found its first expression. Between 1750 and 1765, the major Neo-
Classical proponents could be found in residences.
ARCHITECTS ASSOCIATED WITH NEO CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE IN ENGLAND:
 JAMES STUART – Employed Greek Doric Order as early as 1758.
 GEORGE DANCE – Designed Newgate Gaol in 1765, a superficially Piranesian
structure, followed Neo–Proportional Palldian theories of Robert Morris.
 THOMAS HOPE – Greek Revival-Household furniture and Interior decoration (1807).

NEOCLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE

Neoclassicism first gained influence in Paris, through a generation of French art students
trained at the French Academy in Rome.
ARCHITECTS ASSOCIATED WITH NEO CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE:
 CLAUDE PERRAULT : He gave his concept of “POSITIVE BEAUTY” (role of
standardization and perfection) and “ARBITRARY BEAUTY(expressive function as may
be required by a particular circumstance or character).

 ABBE’DE CORDEMOY- He challenged the Vitruvian principle NAMELY UTILITY,

SOLIDITY AND BEAUTY by his own trinity. First principle was the correct
proportioning of classical orders, the second was their appropriate disposition, and
the third introduced the notion of fitness which warned against the inappropriate
application of classical elements to utilitarian or commercial structures.
 Cordemoy was concerned with geometrical purity and was against baroque devices
such as irregular columniation, broken pediments and twisted columns. He argued
that many buildings did not need ornamentation at all

 J.-G. SOUFFLOT: Recreated the LIGHTNESS,SPACIOUSNESS AND PROPORTION of

Classical architecture(Gothic).Such a ‘translucent’structure was realized in soufflot’s
church of Ste-Genevieve in Paris.

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 J.F. BLONDEL: opened an architecture School in 1743 and was the teacher of the
Enlightenment or Visionary architects that included Etienne Louis Boullee,Jacques
gondoin,Pierre Patte,Marie-Joseph Peyre,Jean-Baptiste Rondelet and Claude Nicolas
Ledoux .

BUILDINGS OF NEO CLASSICAL STYLE:

ROBERT ADAM
 The Scottish architect and designer Robert Adam, in the 1750s and ’60s
redesigned a number of stately English houses namely the,
 Sion House, 1762–69, and
 Osterley Park, 1761–80),
 He introduced the neoclassical style to Great Britain. The Adam style, as it became
known, remained however somewhat rococo in its emphasis on surface ornamentation
and preciosity of scale, even as it adopted the motifs of antiquity.
J.-G. SOUFFLOT
 In France, Paris, J.-G. Soufflot attempted the classical building in Panthenon (1757-
90).
 The facade, like that of the Roman Pantheon, is formed by a porch of Corinthian
columns and triangular pediment.
 Piercier and Fontaine copied the detail of Arch of Constantine and carved into Arc
de Triomphe du Carrousel Paris (1806-08).

Interiors - J.-G. Soufflot classical building Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel Paris (1806-
08)

Arch of Constantine Rome

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 ENLIGHTENMENT ARCHITECTS:

 The intellectual movement of the Enlightenment developed with the rigid system of
the rule known as ABSOLUTISM.
 The new movement aimed to liberate not just philosophy but every aspect of life from
its traditional shackles and provide a new strictly reasonable ,ratio based orientation
 J.F.BLONDEL after his opening of the architectural school in 1743,RUE DE LA
HARPE became THE MASTER OF THE SO CALLED “VISIONARY” OR ENLIGHTMENT
generation of Architects.
 It included “ETINNE LOUIS BOULLEE, PIERRE PATTE, JACQUES GONDION, AND
PROBABLY THE MOST VISIONARY OF ALL “CLAUDE NICOLAS LEDOUX.
 In France Etinne Louis Boullee and Claude Nicolas Ledoux developed a simple cosmic
geometry for their numerous unbuilt designs.
 Ledoux, in his two main built works, the state chemical works of ‘La Saline and the toll
gates around Paris made good use of Tuscan style.

ÉTIENNE-LOUIS BOULLÉE
EARLY LIFE:
Étienne-Louis Boullée (February 12, 1728 - February 4, 1799) was a visionary French
neoclassical architect whose work greatly influenced contemporary architects and is still
influential today.
Born in Paris, he studied under Jacques-François Blondel, Germain Boffrand and Jean-
Laurent Legeay, from whom he learned the mainstream French Classical architecture in
the 17th and 18th century and the Neoclassicism that evolved after the mid century.

He was elected to the Académie Royale d'Architecture in 1762 and became chief
architect to Frederick II of Prussia, a largely honorary title.

He designed a number of private houses from 1762 to 1778, though most of these no
longer exist; notable survivors include THE HOTEL ALEXANDRE AND HOTEL DE BRUNOY,
both in Paris. Together with Claude Nicolas Ledoux he was one of the most influential
figures of French neoclassical architecture.

DESIGN PHILOSOPHY

 Evoked the SUBLIME EMOTIONS OF TERROR AND TRANQUILITY through the

grandeur of his conceptions
 He adopted THE UNADORNED GEOMETRICAL PURITY OF MONUMENTAL FORM
and the immensity of vista to promote more exhilaration and anxiety.
 He used THE CAPACITY OF LIGHT to invoke the presence of divine.

THE CENOTAPH OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON,

 In his design of the cenotaph of Sir Isaac Newton, he adopted a vast masonry
sphere.

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  He used light to portray divinity.
 A fire was suspended at night to represent the sun and extinguished during day
time.
 The illusion of light was produced by the daylight shining through the spheres
perforated walls.

Boullee, Project for a cenotaph for Isaac Newton, 1785

CLAUDE NICOLAS LEDOUX.

EARLY LIFE:
1. Claude Ledoux was born in DORMANS, FRANCE IN 1736.
2. He was educated at a private architectural school in Paris.
3. Established by J. F. BLONDEL, the school emphasized native Baroque tradition
but exposed students to English architecture.
4. After completing his studies, Ledoux assumed several government positions as an
engineer, mainly of bridge design.
5. Ledoux' dramatic style owes much to the fact that he never visited Rome.
6. His concepts of Roman architecture were accordingly warped by the engravings
of Piranesi from which he derived his knowledge.
7. He did visit England, where he was influenced by the Palladian tradition with which
he was already familiar.
8. Although much of Ledoux's architecture is quite practical and functional, the
"visionary" aspects of his work are better known. His designs became symbols of
the ancient regime and their exaggerated use of classical elements seems to
anticipate post-modern classicism.

PALAIS DE JUSTICE
 The strict cubic block with columns and pilaster function now no more than decorative
arrangement elements.
 The columns, pilaster and timberworks oriented at classical models are just as
characteristic of the direct early classicism.

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 Palais de Justice

IDEAL CITY OF CHAUX, 1804

 The scheme of the salt works was built for Louis XVI at Arc-et-Senans.
 He expanded this semicircular form of this complex into the representational core of
his ideal city of Chaux.
 The semicircular salt works integrated productive units with the worker’s housing.
 The salt evaporation sheds on the axis were high-roofed like the agricultural buildings
with rusticated dressings. While the Director’s house in the centre was low roofed,
pediment with classical porticos.

Ledoux,Ideal city of Chaux,1804

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JEAN-NICOLAS-LOUIS DURAND –
1. Built very little but influenced a whole generation of architects, namely Schinkel
Gartner Klenze and Sempur.
2. He reduced his extravagant ideas to a normative and economic typology.
3. Durand established a universal building methodology through modular permutation
of fixed plan types and alternative elevations.
4. His ideas that buildings could be planned in repetitive modular units, that their
basic framework could be clad in different styles of architecture according to
function or taste and that rich decoration was not essential to architectural
effect, were a perfect formula for developing large urban settlements quickly
effectively and cheaply.
5. He exploited platonic volumes to achieve appropriate character at a reasonable
cost.

KARL FRIEDRICH SCHINKEL (1781-1841)

1. Was a native Prussian; most of his works were carried out in and around Berlin.
2. By 1830, he had produced his main works: the Neue Wache guard house
(1816), the Schauspielhaus (1812-21), Humboldt’s country house (1822-
18240 and the Altes museum.

3.
4. His means was severe and neo-classical though the effects he obtained in his
interiors with dramatic lighting, changes in levels and spatial fluidity show an
original mind at work.
5. The influence of Durand is most clearly revealed in the Museum.
6. The exteriors of the Altes Museum is restrained and academic Neo-Classicism;
interiors is full of spatial effects.
7. A two- storey entrance space within the portico, incorporating a fine double
staircase, a splendid domed sculptured hall, and pictured galleries with hanging
screens placed at right angles to the windows for the best lighting effects.
8. Schinkel’s pupils and his successors followed the informality of his later works
rather than rigidity of the classical style.

HENRI LABROUSTE (1801-1875)

One of the Post –Durand buildings in paris is the Ste Genevieve library (1843-50) by
Henri Labrouste. It is a long rectilinear building in which an elegant neo-renaissance
façade in two tiers conceals the interiors. A fine example of Iron engineering with a
double row of semicircular iron vaults carried on iron columns.
Labrouste’s design consists of a perimeter wall of books enclosing a rectilinear space
and supporting an iron-framed, barrel-vault roof which is divided into two halves and
further supported in the centre of the space by a line of Iron columns.

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Another main work of Labrouste is THE BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE IN PARIS (1862-
1868).

This complex consists of a reading room covered by an Iron and glass roof carried on
sixteen cast iron columns and a multi-storey wrought and cast-iron book stack. The roof
of the main reading room is a cluster of nine domes faced with ceramic panels, with
circular openings for lighting the interior. The elegance of the cast- iron roof structure
contrasts with masonry walls around the perimeter.

The middle of the 19th century saw the Neo-classical heritage divided between two
closely related lines of development:
 The structural Classicism of Labrouste,
 The romantic classicism of Schinkel.
The structural Classicists tended to emphasize structure-the line of Cordemoy, Laugier
and Soufflot. The romantic classicists stressed on the form-the line of ledoux, Boullee
and Gilly. One school concentrated on such types as prisons hospitals and railway
stations while the other school focused on representational structures such as the
university museum, library and grandiose monuments.