ROMANTICISM
-artistic, literary and intellectural movement that
originated in Europe during the second half of 18th
century
-became attached to politics, echoing people's fears,
hopes and aspirations
-imagination as the supreme faculty of the mind
-reaction to the industrial revolution(mass production
of machines) and the aristocratic and political norms of
the age of enlightenment
RETURN TO CLASSICISM
-an extension of the French and English Baroque’s
stiffer, more geometrically regular and more academic
forms
-two tendencies used towards “perfection” using
classical thought or principles:
a.) stereometric shapes or volumes as points of
departure
-meaning these cubes, spheres, basic
geometrical forms became the basis of composition
-purity of architecture; down to its simple and
basic form
b.) universal envelope with repetitious elements like
columns and entablature
-universal envelope=enclosure of the building
-neoclassical form=columns, entablature
Houghton Hall by Colen Campbell (1722-1728)
Theories of Lodoli & Laugier (both French)
-Carlo Lodoli promoted the modernist notions
of functionalism and truth to materials
-Illustration of Mark Antonie Laugier’s (partly purist)
interpretation of true and
-Laugier’s interpreted architecture into three basic
elements: the real essence of architecture is something
that is composed of a post, lintel and the roof (ex.
Primitive hut)
Etienne-Louise Boullee
-Paris-born teacher and theorist who became the Chef
architect of Frederick II of Russia
-Discerned in symmetrical solids and believed that the
sphere is the only perfect architectural shape
-Boullee went beyond the classical orders; went to the
root of classical arch. which is using geometrical form
(purity) using sphere/cube
-Newton’s Cenotaph=post-tomb for Isaac newton
Claude Nicholas Ledoux
House of the forestry guard in chateau de Mauperthuis
-one of the early exponents of French neoclassical
architecture
-used his theories in the design of domestic buildings
and in town planning
-promoted purity
-has his own principle about “expression” in
architecture
-houses, town-planning
-his two-fold contribution to modern architecture:
1) value for geometric shapes places in light
-by using the purest of geometric shapes, you
would be able to appreciate its form by how light strikes
at the diff surfaces of the volume
2) concept of the building must be something symbolic
-this led to “architecture parlante” or “speaking
architecture”
-ledoux: architecture should showcase its
function just by looking at the form
Ledoux’s Ideal Town of Chaux (1790)

-circular layout with church at the center

Church of the Holy Sacrifice, UP Diliman, 1955 by
-the layout itself provided equal opportunities for the
Leandro Locsin
residents of this town to gain access to the common
-semi-dome enclosure
facilities(work houses) in the
-first concrete-shelved in the country
middle(middlemost=church)
-everything is accessible in almost all points or places of
this town that makes it “ideal”
-walled, houses surrounding the rotunda where the
most common facilities are located=efficient town
planning
-“ideal” church is a cross within a square plan with
circular dome reminiscent of the Palladian Walls
-church’s solid unbroken walls isolate interior and
exterior

Influences by Ledoux & Boullee

Brasilia Government Center, Brazil by Oscar Niemeyer

-three distinct forms that connects to the three
branches of the government (executive, legislative,
judiciary)

Cultural Center of the Philippines, 1966 by Leandro

Locsin
-emphasis on stereometric shapes
-platform=symbolizing stage which tends to connect to
the function

Cathedral of Brasilia, Brazil by Oscar Niemeyer

-expresses the function of this building