Précis of the Lectures on Architecture With Graphic Portion of the Lectures on Architecture |
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| Author:
| Durand, Jean-Nicholas-Louis
Britt, David |
| Introduction by:
| Picon, Antoine |
| Series title: | Texts and Documents Ser. |
| ISBN: | 978-0-89236-580-7 |
| Publication Date: | Oct 2000 |
| Publisher: | Oxford University Press, Incorporated
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| Book Format: | Paperback |
| List Price: | USD $55.00 |
Book Description:
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Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand Durand (1760-1834) regarded the Précis of the Lectures on Architecture (1802-5) and its companion volume, the Graphic Portion (1821), as both a basic course for future civil engineers and a treatise. Focusing the practice of architecture on utilitarian and economic values, he assailed the rationale behind classical architectural training: beauty, proportionality, and symbolism. His formal systematization of plans, elevations, and sections transformed...
More DescriptionJean-Nicolas-Louis Durand Durand (1760-1834) regarded the Précis of the Lectures on Architecture (1802-5) and its companion volume, the Graphic Portion (1821), as both a basic course for future civil engineers and a treatise. Focusing the practice of architecture on utilitarian and economic values, he assailed the rationale behind classical architectural training: beauty, proportionality, and symbolism. His formal systematization of plans, elevations, and sections transformed architectural design into a selective modular typology in which symmetry and simple geometrical forms prevailed. His emphasis on pragmatic values, to the exclusion of metaphysical concerns, represented architecture as a closed system that subjected its own formal language to logical processes. Now published in English for the first time, the Précis and the Graphic Portion are classics of architectural education.