The 1795 appointment of Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand (1760-1834) as professor of architecture at the newly created École Polytechnique proved to be monumental for the course of modern architectural theory. He capitalized on the reformative, revolutionary climate in France to propose far-reaching changes for the teaching of architecture.

Durand 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.

Antoine Picon is professor of the history of architecture and engineering at the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, Paris, and author of French Architects and Engineers in the Age of the Enlightenment. David Britt has translated numerous books, including The Renewal of Pagan Antiquity by Aby Warburg.

Series: Texts & Documents

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