Claude-Nicolas Ledoux: Architecture and Utopia in the Era of the French Revolution. Second and expanded edition

by Anthony Vidler

Overview

Claude-Nicolas Ledoux (1736-1806) is today regarded as chief representative of French revolutionary architecture. With his extraordinary inventiveness he projected the architectural ideals of his era. Ledoux’s influential buildings and projects are presented and interpreted both aesthetically and historically in this book. His best-known projects – the Royal Saltwords of Arc-et-Senans, the tollgates of Paris, the ideal city of Chaux – reveal the architect’s allegiance to the principles of antiquity and Renaissance but also illustrate the evolution of his own utopian language. With the French Revolution, Ledoux ceased building as his contemporaries perceived him as a royal architect. He focused on the development of his architectural theory and redefined the vision of the modern architect.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783035620818
Publisher:	Birkh user
Publication date:	09/15/2021
Edition description:	2nd ed.
Pages:	168
Product dimensions:	8.66(w) x 9.84(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Prof. Anthony Vidler, Cooper Union, New York

Prof. Anthony Vidler, Cooper Union, New York

Editorial Reviews

"It could be argued that Ledoux merits consideration as an architecte-philosophe in his own right, capable not only of registering the philosophical questions and concerns of his time, but also of articulating them in the particular terms of architecture. While these and other questions remain yet to be fully explored, Anthony Vidler has laid the considerable groundwork for further understanding “a Ledoux still posing questions” not only to his own time, but also to architecture and urbanism in our own." (Paul Holmquist, Montreal Architectural Review, Vol. 8, No. 1 2022)

From the Publisher