Architecture Urbanism and Theory

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Patrick Geddes, The Valley Plan of Civilization, 1905

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Giambattista Nolli, Plan of Rome, 1748

In the plan of Nolli in the eighteenth century, we see the apparition of the process of anarchic densification of the Champ de Mars with the absorption of ancient monuments in the urbanism.

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Pietro del Massaio, Pianta di Roma,1472 After the fall of the Roman Empire, the city of Rome will undergo in a process of decay in the city inside the Wall of Aurelian built in the 2nd century AD

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Piranesi, field of Mars, 1762

Plan of the ancient city: the idealized reconstruction of the field of Mars by Piranesi shows an ancient Rome formed by the juxtaposition of relatively autonomous buildings with respect to each other.

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J.N.L. Durand, Table 20 in: Précis des leçons d'architecture donnés à l'École polytechnique, 1802/5

The principles of architectural composition will be systematized by Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand at the beginning of the 19th century. Its purpose is to teach them in a synthetic way to the students of the polytechnic school. These principles will remain in force in the teaching of Fine Arts until the beginning of the 20th century.

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J-F. Blondel, plan by masses of a part of new buildings and new communications that are raised in Metz started in 1767, in: Cours d'Architecture, 1772 Blondel will expand the principles of composition on an urban-scale. One of the first applications is the transformation project of the center of Metz (France), Blondel realizes between 1764 and 1771. Blondel articulates around the Gothic cathedral public spaces whose simple geometric outlines are defined by new neoclassical constructions.

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Jacques François Blondel, Plan and section of the church of Saint-Louis in Metz, 1763 in: Cours d'Architecture, 1772 The notion of composition emerges with the formalization of the principles of neoclassicism in France during the 18th century. As underlined by the definition of the dictionary of the French Academy, the composition seeks to make a whole of the assembly of the parts. Jacques Francois Blondel will formalize this principles in his writing and his theoretical projects. For example, the plan and section of the church of Saint-Louis in Metz shows the unification of elements that appear however as being autonomous in the cut of the same building.

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Adam Frans van der Meulen, Construction of the Château de Versailles, 1669, Oil on canvas, 103x138,5 cm

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Pierre Aveline l’ancien (1656-1722), Vue générale de la ville et du château de Versailles, du côté des jardins, château de Versailles, INV.GRAV 92. © Château de Versailles

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the city is only a big house

Andrea Palladio, the Four Books on Architecture, 1570

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Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Tower of Babel, c.1563, oil on panel, 114 cm × 155 cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Tower of Babel, c.1568, oil on panel, 60 cm × 74.5 cm, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam