Étienne-Louis Boullée

(February 12, 1728 – February 4, 1799)

 He was a visionary French neoclassical architect whose

work greatly influenced contemporary architects.
 Born in Paris, he studied under Jacques-François Blondel,
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 Boullée, Hôtel Alexandre
survivors include the Hôtel Alexandre and Hôtel de Brunoy,
both in Paris.
 Together with Claude Nicolas Ledoux he was one of the
most influential figures of French neoclassical architecture.

 He was as a teacher and theorist at the École Nationale

des Ponts et Chaussées between 1778 and 1788
 Boullée made his biggest impact, developing a distinctive
abstract geometric style inspired by Classical forms. His
work was characterised by the removal of all unnecessary
ornamentation, inflating geometric forms to a huge scale
and repeating elements such as columns in huge ranges.
 For Boullée regularity, symmetry and variety were the
Boullée, Entry of the National Library
golden rules of architecture.
Étienne-Louis Boullée
Between 1760 and 1789 French architecture
enjoyed a most creative period.
SUCCESS had to do
1. With an unprecedented Building boom initiated by the
crown and city government.
2. Part also had to do with a loss of authority within the
academic system, the new knowledge, and the general
desire to experiment with new aesthetic ideas.
3. And very important component of the formal innovation
also had to do with the quality of young architects who
emerged.
Boullée, Hôtel Alexandre
Etienne-Louis Boulle´e was a prominent member of this
professional generation. In his early years he was known
principally as the architect of a number of elegant townhouses,
beginning with the
1. Hoˆtel Alexandre (1763–6) and
2. culminating with the grand Hoˆtel de Brunoy (1774–9)
along the Champs-Elyse´es.
But he was also highly regarded as a teacher and elevated to
the first class of the Architectural Academy in 1780. Two years
later, he resigned from his official governmental offices and
devoted himself to painting and to architectural theory

Boullée, Entry of the National Library

Étienne-Louis Boullée
(February 12, 1728 – February 4, 1799)

 On the one hand Boulle was very skeptical of Vitruvius

(whom he regards as little more than a technician), the
issues of the Blondel/Perrault dispute, and academic
culture itself.
 He was also a sensationalist in his aesthetics and spoke of
ARCHITECTURE AS POETRY, by which he meant a kind of
poetry composed of symmetry, regularity, varied form, and
character.

In Some of his writings he explain his search to discover the

properties of volumes and their analogy with the human
Organism

I. IRREGULAR VOLUMES STUDIED - PERCEIVED IN THEM

THE CONFUSION
II. STUDY REGULAR VOLUMES - REGULARITY, SYMMETRY
AND VARIETY OBSERVED; WHICH CONSTITUTED THEIR
SHAPE AND THEIR FORM.
III. REALIZATION - REGULARITY ALONE HAD GIVEN MAN A
CLEAR CONCEPTION OF THE SHAPE OF VOLUMES, AND
SO HE GAVE THEM A DEFINITION WHICH, AS WE SHALL
SEE, RESULTED NOT ONLY FROM THEIR REGULARITY
AND SYMMETRY BUT ALSO FROM THEIR VARIETY
Étienne-Louis Boullée
IN ARCHITECTURE A LACK OF
 BOULLE`S ANALYSIS: How is it that we can recognize the PROPORTION IS NOT GENERALLY VERY
shape of a regular volume at a glance? OBVIOUS EXCEPT TO THE EYE OF THE
 It is because it is simple in form, its planes are regular and CONNOISSEUR.
it repeats itself. IT IS THUS EVIDENT THAT ALTHOUGH
 But since we gauge the impression that objects make on PROPORTION IS ONE OF THE MOST
us by their clarity, what makes us single out regular IMPORTANT ELEMENTS CONSTITUTING
volumes in particulars is the fact that their regularity and BEAUTY IN ARCHITECTURE, IT IS NOT THE
their symmetry represent order, and order is clarity. PRIMARY LAW FROM WHICH ITS BASIC
PRINCIPLES DERIVE.
 It is obvious from the above remarks that man had no clear
idea of the shape of volumes before he discovered the
concept of regularity.
 Once observed that the shape of a regular volume is
determined by regularity, symmetry and variety, then it is IT IS EASY FOR THE READER TO SURMISE
understood that proportion is the combination of these THAT THE BASIC RULE AND THE ONE THAT
properties. GOVERNS THE PRINCIPLES OF
ARCHITECTURE, ORIGINATES IN
By the proportion of a volume Boullee means the effect REGULARITY AND ALSO THAT ANY
produced by its regularity, its symmetry and its variety. DEVIATION FROM SYMMETRY
IN ARCHITECTURE IS INCONCEIVABLE
 Regularity gives it a beautiful shape,
 symmetry gives it order and proportion,
 variety gives it planes that diversify as we look at them.
 Thus the combination and the respective concord which
are the result of all these properties, give rise to
volumetric
 harmony.
Étienne-Louis Boullée
ON CHARACTER OF A BUILDING

 THE DEPTH OF THE LIGHT ENHANCES OUR IMPRESSIONS;

ITS EFFECTS ARE BOTH VIVID AND DAZZLING. ALL IS
RADIANT!
 THE EFFECT OF LIGHT AND IT’S POWERS ON DEFINING
FORM ,SHAPE, COLOUR ETC ARE BOUGHT ABOUT BY
BOULLE BY DESCRIBING SEASON’S AND NATURE IN POETIC
MANNER; MAKING IT HARD FOR ONE TO DISAGREE

 THE ARRANGEMENT SHOULD BE SUCH THAT WE CAN

ABSORB AT A GLANCE THE MULTIPLICITY OF THE SEPARATE
ELEMENTS THAT CONSTITUTE THE WHOLE.

 THE PLAY OF LIGHT ON THIS ARRANGEMENT OF VOLUMES

SHOULD PRODUCE THE MOST WIDESPREAD, STRIKING
AND VARIED EFFECTS THAT ARE ALL MULTIPLIED TO THE
MAXIMUM.

 IN A LARGE ENSEMBLE, THE SECONDARY COMPONENTS

MUST BE SKILFULLY COMBINED TO GIVE THE GREATEST
POSSIBLE OPULENCE TO THE WHOLE;
AND IT IS THE AUSPICIOUS DISTRIBUTION OF THIS OPULENCE
THAT PRODUCES SPLENDOUR AND MAGNIFICENCE
Étienne-Louis Boullée
SUMMARY REFLECTIONS ON THE ART OF TEACHING
ARCHITECTURE
 Man can only learn by proceeding from the simple to
the complicated.
 Architects make their Students begin by drawing the
[‘five’ erased] orders of Architecture which constitute all
the opulence(splendour) of this art?

 STARTING FROM A CABIN DESIGN THE STUDENT

SHOULD BE TAUGHT TO TAKE ON MORE COMPLICATED
STRUCTURES , DRAWING FAÇADE, PLANS .etc

 AT EVERY STAGE UNDERSTANDING THE RELATION OF

POETRY , EMOTION , TO FORM AND SPACE
Étienne-Louis Boullée
Geometric style
Cenotaph for Sir Isaac Newton
Boullée, Cénotaphe à Newton (1784)
 Boullée promoted the idea of making architecture expressive
of its purpose, a doctrine that his detractors(critic) termed
architecture parlante ("talking architecture"), which was an
essential element in Beaux-Arts architectural training in the
later 19th century.
 His style was most notably exemplified in his proposal for a
cenotaph for the English scientist Isaac Newton.
 The building itself was a 150m (500ft) tall sphere
encompassed by two large barriers circled by hundreds of
cypress trees. Boullée, Cénotaphe de Newton
 Though the structure was never built, its design was engraved
and circulated widely in professional circles. Boullee's
Cenotaph for Isaac Newton is a funerary monument
celebrating a figure interred elsewhere.
 The small sarcophagus for Newton is placed at the lower pole
of the sphere.
 The design of the memorial creates the effect of day and
night. The night effect occurs when the sarcophagus is
illuminated by the sunlight coming through the holes in the
vaulting.
 This gives the illusion of stars in the night sky. The day effect is
an armillary sphere(an old astronomical instrument composed
of rings showing positions of important circles of the celestial
sphere) hanging in the center that gives off a mysterious glow.
Schopenhauer on sublime Born: February 22, 1788, Gdańsk, Poland
Died: September 21, 1860, Frankfurt, Germany

 In order to clarify the concept of the feeling of the sublime, Schopenhauer listed examples of its
transition from the beautiful to the most sublime. This can be found in the first volume of his The
World as Will and Representation, § 39.
 For him, the feeling of the beautiful is pleasure in simply seeing a benign object. The feeling of the
sublime, however, is pleasure in seeing an overpowering or vast malignant object of great
magnitude, one that could destroy the observer.
 Feeling of Beauty – Light is reflected off a flower. (Pleasure from a mere perception of an object
that cannot hurt observer).
 Weakest Feeling of Sublime – Light reflected off stones. (Pleasure from beholding objects that pose
no threat, yet themselves are devoid of life).
 Weaker Feeling of Sublime – Endless desert with no movement. (Pleasure from seeing objects that
could not sustain the life of the observer).
 Sublime – Turbulent Nature. (Pleasure from perceiving objects that threaten to hurt or destroy
observer).
 Full Feeling of Sublime – Overpowering turbulent Nature. (Pleasure from beholding very violent,
destructive objects).
 Fullest Feeling of Sublime – Immensity of Universe's extent or duration. (Pleasure from knowledge
of observer's nothingness and oneness with Nature).