Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand
Personal Information
Description
French architect. Durand studied architecture with Pierre Panseron, professor at the Ecole Militaire, and Jean Rodolphe Perronet, founder of the Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées. At the age or sixteen, Durand entered the office of Etienne Louis Boullée as a draughtsman, earning enough to enroll at the Académie d'Architecture, placing second in the Prix de Rome competitions of 1779 and 1780. (Source: Union List of Artist Names Online - Getty Research Institute)
Books
Précis of the lectures on architecture
"In 1795, in the midst of the revolutionary turmoil in France, Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand was named professor of architecture at the newly created Ecole Polytechnique. Durand seized the occasion to propose far-reaching changes for the teaching of architecture. Not only do his lectures emphasize utilitarian and economic values in the practice of architecture, but they also assail the rationale behind the bulwarks of classical architectural training: beauty, proportionality, and symbolism - in short, the entire Vitruvian tradition."--BOOK JACKET.