3D Reconstruction of the Unbuilt Project Pont destiné à réunir la France à l’Italie (1829) by Henri Labrouste

Project start date: 2000-01

Project end date: 2008-06

Henri Labrouste (1801-75) is best known as the architect of two important public buildings in Paris, both libraries. The Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, completed in 1851, demonstrated Labrouste's unconventional use of classical elements, much disputed at the time, and his structural innovation of introducing an exposed iron frame. The Bibliothèque Nationale, completed in the year of his death, is renowned for its eclectic reading room reminiscent of a Seljuk mosque: a light, top-lit round space with slender cast-iron columns, which support a multitude of small domes. Both these buildings are representative of the so-called Beaux-Arts style that flourished at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris of which Labrouste was a student. Labrouste's early rejection of formal Roman classicism (promoted by the Académie des Beaux-Arts prior to its closure in 1793) caused quite a stir. His view that architecture should respond to location, materials, and climate was equally controversial. Established architects, including some of his teachers found Labrouste's ideas difficult to accept. As a result, the novelty of his early designs was slow to gain recognition. Among his early unexecuted projects is a design for a bridge between France and Italy, le pont destiné à réunir la France à l’Italie, conceived as the fifth year student project en envoi in Italy in 1829. Originally, Labrouste’s intention was to design an arch, but this evolved into a romantic vision for bridging two nations, and seems to incorporate elements of an earlier design for an imaginary church. *Information supplied by Daniela Sirbu. Record compiled and additional research by Anna Bentkowska-Kafel (3DVisA Index of 3D Projects, http://3dvisa.cch.kcl.ac.uk/project17.html)