French Architects and Engineers in the Age of Enlightenment

by Antoine Picon

Overview

The professions of architect and engineer, which had maintained very close links since the time of the Renaissance, became increasingly isolated from one another in France during the course of the eighteenth century, the 'Age of the Enlightenment'. This book analyses the meaning of this gradual mutual isolation, the consequences of which can still be felt at a variety of different levels, and offers a unique insight in English to the teaching and practice of architects such as Jacques-Francois Blondel and Pierre Patte, and engineers such as Jean-Rodolphe Perronet and Gaspard-Riche de Prony. The text of the book is clear and easily comprehensible, and presents a fully accessible account of this key period in the development of architectural achievement and debate.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521123693
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/17/2009
Series:	Cambridge Studies in the History of Architecture
Pages:	452
Product dimensions:	7.40(w) x 9.60(h) x 1.00(d)

Table of Contents

List of Figures; Acknowledgements; 1. General Remarks; 2. The classical tradition; 3. The impact of the Enlightenment on architecture; 4. 'Towards a classical architecture' Jacques-Francois Blondel and the 'Cours d'architecture'; 5. The engineers' 'system'; 6. The principles of training and the economy of knowledge; 7. Stability and construction; 8. Pierre Patte and the concept of the rational town; 9. A productive countryside; 10. From the revolutionary 'Genius' to Neo-classicism; Conclusion; Appendix; Biographical; Notes.