Étienne-Louis Boullée (February 12, 1728 - February 6, 1799) was a French architect, born in Paris.

His designs emphasize simple, symmetrical geometric shapes. Boullée's refined designs often were inspired by antiquity, for example, his Château de Chaville, 1764 built for Tessé family, and Hôtel de Brunoy, 1774 (since demolished).

As an architectural academician, he taught at the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (school of bridges and causeways) and the Académie Royale d'Architecture.

His book Architecture, essai sur l'art (essay on the art of architecture) written in the last decade of his life was not published until 1953. It contained his work from 1778 to 1788, mostly public buildings on a scale so grand, that some critics have characterized him as a megalomaniac. For instance, his imaginary cenotaph (empty tomb) in honor of Isaac Newton 1784. His focus on polarity (offsetting opposite design elements) and the use of light and shadow mark him as a visionary theoretician.

Bibliography

• Boullée & visionary architecture ed. Helen Rosenau, Pub. Harmony Books, New York, 1976 ISBN 0856701572.
• Boullée's Treatise on Architecture by Étienne-Louis Boullée, ed. by Helen Rosenau, pub. Alec Tiranti, Ltd. London: 1953 First Edition
• Étienne-Louis Boullée (1728-1799: Theoretician of Revolutionary Architecture) by Jean Marie Perouse De Montclos, pub.George Braziller; ISBN 0807606723; (February 1974)
• Visionary Architects: Boullée, Ledoux, Lequeu by Jean-Claude Lemagny, pub. Hennessey & Ingalls; ISBN 0940512351; (July 2002)
• Les Architectes de la Liberté by Annie Jacques, pub. Découvertes Gallimard #47; ISBN 2070530671; (November 1988) [In French]

External links

• Boullée exhibit at Bibliothèque nationale de France http://expositions.bnf.fr/boullee/index.htm
• Internet architecture resource http://www.vitruvio.ch/arc/masters/boullee.htm
• Successor to the Académie Royale d' Architecture http://www.academie-des-beaux-arts.fr
• Movie: The Belly of an Architect 1987 dir. Peter Greenaway http://us.imdb.com/Title?0092637