The Impossible Architecture of Étienne-Louis Boullée

Hi, hope you liked the video! If you want to see some of Boullées projects in 3D and get a better sense of what they would have looked like in real life, you can find some great digital reconstructions of them here: https://youtu.be/04cpR_SHQ94

"They were impossible to build. This inspires architects to this day." That tracks.

Gu gu ga ga.

His architecture is like Ancient Rome meets HP Lovecraft. Absolutely spectacular.

He's a master, but I can't help but feel many of his designs feel depressingly dystopic. The "repulsive beauty" of the erupting volcano is intense.

It’s 4am and I’m crying because a French guy made some really big and really pretty buildings.

What would be awesome is if a digital artist turned these designs into full scale virtual reality simulations people could tour in cyberspace using VR glasses.

As a janitor i'd be constantly asking "HOW the freaking hell do you even HEAT these places?".

You are literally the only channel that manages to cover all of my weird niche interests! Thank you so much, I couldn't find many good quality videos covering Boullée’s work, which is crazy as you'd assume his grandiose visions would feature very often in architectural discussions.

All of his buildings are stunning. I would love to see them built even if at a much smaller scale.

The scale of these buildings is incredible. I don't know if Boulée intended this or not, but they look very imposing - the individual becomes almost insignificant. This reminds me of the designs Albert Speer created for Hitler's megalomanical building projects (like the "World Capital Germania" Berlin was meant to become). I don't know if Speer knew of Boulée's work, but there are are some uncanny similarities between their designs (for example, the "German Stadium" at the (Nazi) Party Rally Grounds in Nuremberg is similar to Boulée's Colosseum). Interesting and also macabre how two diametral approaches can lead to very similar results.

The perfect example of "I wanted to be an artist, had to learn architecrure, so am doing art in architecture now."

There is something about this period from 1700 to pre industrialisation (around 1840) that seems to have inspired the most majestic and awe inspiring works of of art since the times of antiquity. From the music of Vivaldi, Bach, and later Mozart and Beethoven to architecture like this.

I think Kentaro Miura might have been inspired by Boullees art. I remember seeing these sort of massive buildings during the Falconia arc of Berserk.

Imagine a mind like this working not only on architecture on Earth, but potential extraterrestrial architecture for humanity.

This reminds me of dune, the author describes huge constructs and cities stretching for kilometers with walls scraping the sky and buildings adorned with windows longer than semi trucks

Some related things: -Baths of Diocletian (epic in scale and actually existed) -Tower of Babel series by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (and indeed the Tower was a subject also for contemporaries of Etienne-Louis Boulee, who tended to enjoy portraying the tower in precise and dizzying depictions) -The works of the romantic painter John Martin, who painted buildings of similar scale and detail

I've always been really impressed by Boullée's imagination and designs. Thank you very much for laying them out to us so clearly.

Boullee: Says he has an immense amount of admiration for Sir Isaac Newton Also Boullee: Designs buildings that would stand in utter contempt of gravity if they were to ever come close to existing

Boullee’s designs are awe inspiring and stretch limits of the imagination. They truly elevate the human soul. Where can one find a collection of Boullee’s work oniline?