One of the most important writers in Western architectural history is Eugène‐Emmanuel Viollet‐le‐Duc (1814‐1879), a specialist in restoring medieval buildings who synthesised and promoted some of the basic principles associated with modern “structural rationalism” (crucially the idea that a building’s structure provides the basis for the artistic formation of its exterior). According to Philippe Thiébaut, the symmetrical façade of Gaudi’s astonishing Palau Güell in Barcelona (1886‐1889) was inspired by an entry in Viollet‐le‐Duc’s monumental Dictionnaire Raisonné de l’Architecture Française (1854‐1868).
This thick, compact paperback brings together over 200 of Keiichi Tahara’s wonderfully detailed and stunningly dramatic and atmospheric photographs, representing...
