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: ruclips.net/video/04cpR_SHQ94/видео.html
These videos are amazing! The incredible beauty and grandiose scale of Boullee is astounding and awe-inspiring. Mixed with your narration, these videos have a sense of calm wonderment. You should do more videos of classical architecture. My favorite is Baroque.
The dude created something more depressing/opression than brutalism before the concept of an totalitarian state was even an idea XD true genius XD I find it interesting that the philosophical basis is the ore before an superhuman transcedencial being.
the symbols or say fantasy, of european domination of the rest of the world. Why these designs never transpired is not even important, however the apex of european imagination, magnanimity and virtue was eventually smashed, butchered, imploding from within and destroyed by themselves only. This sort of vision is part ugly and part hilarious now, in hindsight. Given the amount of destruction that european architectures have causes over the centuries...
@@demaistre2458More like the veneration of the state more than the father, because there's no way you're building a second Babel and calling that a veneration of the Holy God.
@caringheart34 I don't agree with that, our nature as a people isn't in itself exclusive from having that pious and humble position. Things can be made in our fathers honor and glory...Civilization itself as an example. People aren't always trying to achieve a nefarious end...there are Charlemagnes who add to the character of history and culture while not trying to trample on divine authority
@@negative6442 eh it still fits lovecraft later admitted he didnt quite understand what euclidian ment, he simply used it to describe "shapes that which could never be described" .
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.
Cheap and (slave) labor and industrialization made it a lot easier. Edit: with slavelabour and cheap labour i meant the extraction and production of resources needed for such constructions, not the actual building itself.
@@BigBodyBiggolo No slaves were allowed in metropolitan France so definitely not the same as in the USA. Also i think you are mixing the 18th and 19th centuries. At Boulées time it wasn't that good, obviously, since the French Revolution happened some 20 years before his death but it was nowhere near the exploitation of the unprotected very cheap workers of the industrial revolution.
I wish at least one of these designs ended up being built. I'm always fascinated by the concept of inconceivably massive structures that aren't just "skyscraper but more taller"
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.
The architecture side of youtube or even architectural theory is a bit too focused on recent works and historical (often of higher quality) works get left behind.
An amazing channel that peeks in the subject if architecture is alt236 unfortunately it is in french but there are english subtitles. I highly recommend this channel. Its general subject is dark imagination but the quality of the videos is insane.
Michael jackson once ejaculated on himself while viewing a booklet of art designs made by a painter.. This happened during an interview. .. Thats how intune or out of control..m.j. Was with his emotions. ..holy shit🤓
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.
@@konstantinrebrov675 Dark Souls games have mega structures, whether its a castle, mountain range in the distance, cliffs dropping 1000ft down, its all exaggerated to the extremes.
@@jobdylan5782 tell me how youre gonna represent round cannon balls or the cannons in minecraft without using a 9:1 scale. and even then youd reach the world hight with less than 10% of the vertical structure. VR is a much better way to go about it. plus with AI you could import the drawings to give you a skelton to mold around. use the image scaler from google earth to render resolution at distance so its not fully rendered at any given time (too hardware intensive) while still preserving the massive scale. alternatively you could use blockchain tech to create an imutable database holding the info, shared by the people visiting the "server" to crowd source the render.
In case of the public buildings, the answer will most likely be "You don't. You come here in your outdoor clothing, if you'll survive outdoors you'll be fine indoors too". As for the palaces and other buildings where people live, I'd assume the more grandiose and public rooms too are kept without heating, with heating reserved for more intimate and thus smaller rooms, like bedrooms. For them, a fireplace per room will suffice.
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.
100% intentional. during the time period architects were really into the concept of the sublime, which is pretty much exactly what you described. "imposing, the individual becomes almost insignificant". the goal of the architecture is to present a feeling of terror and awe much in the same way that a giant mountain would or a rainstorm or a crumbling building covered in moss and rubble
it was, and is, a common trend in architecture. as lunammoon said, to call on the sublime or absoluteness of a concept in a frank and wholistic manner. not trying to skirt away from the ultimate purpose and profundity of lofty things like justice or rule or death or knowledge. kind of gives me platonic notes of calling upon perfect forms.
@@spacelemur7955 well, I guess thats all about how you want to frame it. I mean, a lot of Boulée's architecture was LITERALLY intended to support and facilitate the dignity of the indivigual and revolutionary french republican virtues, again with things like awarding farmers for their hard work and stuff in bold, unapologetic magnitude. all of course in reference to the larger public nature of things as well. but like I mentioned, its about what lense you take of it.
Well it’s easy to create large grand structures when all you’re concerned is with the message you want to make to make about size and power. As opposed to being concerned with logistics, or god forbid just general usability and livability of such a structure lol
@@thegercast4794 of course not, and my mistake if I came across as implying that was so. I think there’s plenty of good existing examples of architecture that is both practical and awe inspiring. But that’s not what this architect seemed to be concerned with
@bjornkemmsies3660 It is however of necessity much more functional and practical, because the failure of a completed architectural work could kill and maim huge numbers, destroy and damage other infrastructure and impact countless livelihoods, these all would have massive economic impacts. These are direct *material* factors that architects must consider that most forms of art needn't.
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?
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
John Martin is a wonderful artist even though he depicts the scenery in his works in an „end of the world“ scheme rather than a perfect, absolute society
In a way, it feels like Etienne-Louis Boullee was way ahead of his time. His mode of thinking was not whether something was financially viable to design, so much as whether or not it could be designed. And his designs with the trees and the use of spheres and rings is just something that I really appreciate. I think that Boullee would have been right at home on the concept art team for films like Tomorrowland, or on the design team for places like Marina Bay in Singapore.
It is worth noting that Boullée's architecture is radical -- at least insofar as imaginary architecture can be considered such -- not only for its scale and austerity, but also for its emphasis on voids. This reflects the profound post-Newtonian shift in the perception of space, and the universe, wherein the cosmos, now a cold vacuum, was no longer representable by the florid profusion of baroque design but rather by absences enclosed by stark geometric forms. This is one of those key details which helps to contextualize Boullée's work within a new paradigmatic climate.
Im thinking it's probably a good thing the untransversable megastructures designed to glorify the power of the state only exists in art and aren't actually how people are supposed to live
This video is such a delight. Thank you!! I love the grand scope and gravity of Boullée’s work, akin in architecture to what John Martin is in painting.
His architecture immediately made me recall the drawings of Germania presented to Hitler by Albert Speer. I would not be surprised to learn that Speer was heavily inspired by Boullée.
Yes I thought the same... It's all very.... Nope I'm not going to say it. They are buildings designed to manipulate our emotions, from the classical via gothic to modernism, from religious to political to secular. They do it well
i LOVE not just architecture, but anything that is enormous in scale. seeing the scale of these structures, they definitely achieve their goals of being awe-inspiring.
Merci pour ce bel hommage rendu à un grand architecte. Étienne-Louis Boullée a su associer le classicisme à la Française à la plus extraordinaire modernité…
Why are humans fascinated by gigantic architecture? I think it's because you can experience the enormity of the space. The size of a space cannot be understood just by its existence. No matter how high a mountain is, you cannot experience the space it occupies. However, by entering the interior of a huge building, humans can experience the greatness of the vast space.
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
dude the feeling that those sketches or whatever you'd call those. they give me a feeling i cannot describe. it's a mix of awe and nostalgia for a life never lived and the city of ascension that would play host to these buildings. it's the definition of the phrase "hauntingly beautiful". its even further potentiated by the tones of the shadows and the 19th centuries almost universal sense of beauty and wonderment, aside from america that is. ffs.
Boullee's building are now one of my absolute favourites, I think. They inspire in me some eerie feeling. I would love to walk around in them, I really would, but they feel... scary. antiutopian. otherwordly. They look unreal, and thus make me thinks of being outside of the human realm. I imagine these building as achitechture in fae world in Celtic religion, or something similar. It's truly remarkable...
Your words mean nothing. Have you just heard of this guy? And now you believe he’s your favorite upon watching a random 19 minute RUclips video. It’s almost like you have no experience at all with the architectural medium. Stop trying to act cool and go cultivate yourself so that you’ll have something unique to offer the world. Until then just shut up. Loser.
They’re ugly imo and it’s not even about the ration of utility and occupied space, but simply the fact that there are no resources on earth to build something like and definitely no place in France lmao like. They are ugly, fake, useless, exaggerate. How would a human walking near such walls even see the whole structure?! You’d need to be 5km away to see the whole thing, which defeats the point of “enlightenment of humans” cause the humans you’re enlightening are shit balls away. They look like monsters. This dude just drew weird ass shit trying to assign a meaning to it. That’s literally what humans do, act and ONLY THEN give meaning to their actions, brainwashing themselves into thinking they had a reason from the start. “Inspiring architects” to do what? Is this an art context? Art does not need such virtue signaling designs. People so easily get shocked that they’d give meaning and importance to anything. You can say the unrealness of such designs is what inspires to go beyond but literally what are you even talking about? It’s not about being a visionary as to just wanting to draw big places and somehow people worship you for butchering that which should have been another job you had to do. But of course fame and grandeur always tricks people
this is excellent! A lot of these designs really make me think of platonic perfect forms and theoretical plain geometries and mathmatics like calculus. almost like the architect is showing mans ability to peal back reality and call upon its core essence and understand in its basic geometric shapes. a bold minimalism.
I love things that involve taking regular things and amping them up to the hypothetical and impossible. It always gives me such a sense of wonder and awe and the strong desire to make them possible.
Your channel is one of my all-time favourites. I can't fathom why you're not more popular, but I trust that you'll eventually find the engagement you merit.
The fact that these were created in the 1700s and not the 1920s is just mind blowing. It would be like discovering that Rembrandt beat Geiger to the punch. I can't help but see the parallels in Speer's work. Megalithic Brutalism, 250 years early.
His art really reminds me of those megastructures intended for space that we usually see in sci-fi. It's interesting because it really does look like just that, but it's less advanced. Reminds me of the SandalPunk punk aesthetic since it looks like the ancient times met new technologies that advanced them into a new era.
I been in some of the worlds biggest churches and as a man of atheism, the sheer size and beauty of these colossal buildings that took hundreds of years to build, leaves a tremendous emotional effect on you. It can easily be understood why people turned to religion upon entering a grand cathedral, there was no question in my mind that this place was holy and respect was to be established.
I had this exact experience on a train passing Arundel. I saw the cathedral and castle on the horizon and the cathedral especially looked colossal in the otherwise empty countryside. Almost like it was some kind of dragon like creature off in the distance.
I agree, but I also find the entire enterprise manipulative. Which it is, of course, but I mean it evokes not the wonder of gods, but suspicion in the authorities who seek to bamboozle and cow the people. Such structures, ultimately, are more about earthly power than divine power to the states and organizations that maintain them. They glorify the state even more than god
Looking at Isaac Newton's cenotaph, I thought how futuristic it was, despite it calling back to antiquity, it's ambition places it in the eternal future, there will never be a time where there is such an end to scarcity where such conceptual structures would be realised, at least not without global significance. But that's what conceptual futurist aesthetics often does. Invokes a time where technology gives artists unlimited freedom. So despite his own designs being antique, they will eternally be projected onto a future that will never be realised. Timeless, immortal architecture.
You should also make a video on Antonio Sant'Elia another architect who despite never getting anything built in his lifetime left behind lots of drawings & blueprints that have been very inspirational
This architectural style is absolutely marvelous. It seems like a combination of ancient, but also futuristic at the same time. As if ancient civilizations lasted to the modern day, this is the kind of architecture that they would be building. I call it ancientpunk. Although these buildings were not impossible to build technically, but they were beyond the limits of abilities of Europe at that time, and probably they are beyond the limits of modern time too. It would have been wonderful if this man could have manifested matter using his mind. If he had some kind of powers to make the buildings just appear out of thin air like that.
Thank you for covering my favorite exterior architect! Percier and fontaine will forever be the greatest interior designers and I’d love to see a video on them.
Someone should create a video game set in a world with such architecture. Some kind of ancient steampunk fantasy world. I would totally play it for the sheer joy of exploring the city and marveling at the architecture.
Absolutely mesmerizing. Thank you so much for sharing such an interesting set of works. It’s always a little humbling to remember that people have always been dreaming of large impossible things. That no matter how much time has passed our imaginations are endless ❤
Thanks very much for your dedication! And specially for leaving the resources down below, it's priceless to be able to read and consolidate the information with additional readings and also not having to spend time finding them by ourself.
Thank you so much for this video. I've always had a fascination with Boullée, and to see this greatly put together video was great. I only wish some of these monuments were built! Can't wait to see what's coming up.
I think for me what really sells the scale is the nested structures. In one of these images, he shows a massive city, with an incomprehensibly large wall, each corner with a 400ft tall tower, each tower topped with an arena larger than the Roman Colosseum. At first glance it's big, but it has the unique quality that the closer you look, the more terrifyingly enormous you realize it all is. As others have asked, where did you find all this information and these high quality images?
Another excellent video from Kings and Things. The mix of powerful images, excellent script and quality narration made this wonderful to watch. It took me back to the first time I saw the work of Boullée when I was an architecture student in the 70s.
The amount of research you did for this, the eloquent language you use, the classical music and beautiful panning images. I love love, LOVE this video, I am so glad I stumbled upon this! or rather RUclips AI stumbled on it and posted it on my recommended, but alas, thank you for this amazing creation :)
I'm new to this channel and subject. I'm fascinated. These designs are mesmerising and so immense. I can only imagine what they may have looked like if they were brought into reality. What an informative and brilliant video. I'm glad I clicked on it. 😌😁
As much as it would grand to see one of these buildings in real life, I know that just by being at the main entrance, it would put me in an existential breakdown.
Boullée was truly a great architect, but profoundly affected by his historicity. The execution goes places the theory never could, but not every movement in the superstructure can be as timely as cubism or brutalism. Great video!
I am plagued by the inhumane affliction of not ever being able to nap. On top of insomnia every night. I must have slipped around 6 minutes because the 9 minute mark woke me up, where I then turned it off and knocked out. Thankyou.
Loved the video. Boullée's works inspire a moments of awe that i've only ever experienced in places like the phili train station. His work's also remind me of Wes Anderson. But yeah, this is one of the best videos i've seen recently.
I don't know much, if anything, about architecture. That said this video was excellent, the pacing and narration is easily absorbed and thank you for listing the music used - this doesn't seem as common as it should be, so again it's very appreciated.
I love this cause his drawing resemble ancient structures like those that we cannot create today e.g pyramids, Mayan, Inca, Aztecs. For both technological and societal reasons have changed architecture to a strict utilitarian, rather than communal or observational areas
Boullee was great; I'm also a huge fan of Piranesi. Several of their imaginings have a similar feel of scale/complexity so grandiose and immense as to be impossible to build if not indeed impossible to comprehend. I'll grant you that Piranesi was more artist than architect but the point stands.
I just want to see at least one of his works realized and built today. Unfortunately, it's far too huge and grand for anyone to willingly to construct. At least not in our lifetime.
I agree that modern architecture tends to suck but... what are these buildings for? How would they solve modern problems? The solution to suburban sprawl is not building a single giant church.
wow, what an amazing video. i just came across this in my recs, but im so so glad i clicked. these creations are absolutely amazing, every single structure felt equally as emotional as the last. its amazing to me that one mind can create so many ideas. wow
This man's vision really looks like the architecture of a classical, grand society. One where all is well and conflicts don't tell. Where's the entirety of its society is one who loves peace, science, and art. They might be technologically less advanced, but they're culturally way more as advanced. It's truly something that looks like it belongs on a planet on a game like Destiny 2.
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
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: ruclips.net/video/04cpR_SHQ94/видео.html
Excellent video, thank you.
These videos are amazing! The incredible beauty and grandiose scale of Boullee is astounding and awe-inspiring. Mixed with your narration, these videos have a sense of calm wonderment. You should do more videos of classical architecture. My favorite is Baroque.
The dude created something more depressing/opression than brutalism before the concept of an totalitarian state was even an idea XD true genius XD
I find it interesting that the philosophical basis is the ore before an superhuman transcedencial being.
Consider using a gentle de-esser on your audio :) fantastic video!
Albert Speer was a big fan.
"They were impossible to build. This inspires architects to this day." That tracks.
And engineers be busting their heads on how to make it work😆😆😆
Man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for ?
Side note: Heaven is literally just the safe zone of humanity after dealing with the devil's very, _very_ constant advances for their entire lives.
@@danielawesome36 the most soy way to describe heaven.
the symbols or say fantasy, of european domination of the rest of the world. Why these designs never transpired is not even important, however the apex of european imagination, magnanimity and virtue was eventually smashed, butchered, imploding from within and destroyed by themselves only. This sort of vision is part ugly and part hilarious now, in hindsight. Given the amount of destruction that european architectures have causes over the centuries...
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.
That's my overall impression of his work, too.
It's to show the divine, ulyssian nature of our spirit...in veneration of the father, of course. How could that in any way be dystopic?
@@demaistre2458More like the veneration of the state more than the father, because there's no way you're building a second Babel and calling that a veneration of the Holy God.
@caringheart34 I don't agree with that, our nature as a people isn't in itself exclusive from having that pious and humble position. Things can be made in our fathers honor and glory...Civilization itself as an example. People aren't always trying to achieve a nefarious end...there are Charlemagnes who add to the character of history and culture while not trying to trample on divine authority
I think it's so clean and pure, and that makes it beautiful in my eyes.
His architecture is like Ancient Rome meets HP Lovecraft. Absolutely spectacular.
Too euclidian to be Lovecraft
But is it cyclopean? Or pre-cambrian slate?
@@negative6442 eh it still fits lovecraft later admitted he didnt quite understand what euclidian ment,
he simply used it to describe "shapes that which could never be described" .
That could also describe Giovanni Battista Piranesi.
its nothing like lovecraft.
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.
The Enlightment
Cheap and (slave) labor and industrialization made it a lot easier.
Edit: with slavelabour and cheap labour i meant the extraction and production of resources needed for such constructions, not the actual building itself.
@@BigBodyBiggolo how exactly was slave labour used to build 18th century Parisian architecture?
@@ahwabanmukherjee5065 because just like the US slavery/forced labour was an acceptable practice until well into the 19th century
@@BigBodyBiggolo No slaves were allowed in metropolitan France so definitely not the same as in the USA.
Also i think you are mixing the 18th and 19th centuries. At Boulées time it wasn't that good, obviously, since the French Revolution happened some 20 years before his death but it was nowhere near the exploitation of the unprotected very cheap workers of the industrial revolution.
Gu gu ga ga.
an engineer's dream is a woman's nightmare
@@marvin19966 What does that even mean?
@@Mcmotherfuckingrory a means dream is a modes nightmare
@@Mcmotherfuckingrory exactly what it says
Im just thinking of the poor construction workers making these stunning, but useless Buildings lmao.
I wish at least one of these designs ended up being built. I'm always fascinated by the concept of inconceivably massive structures that aren't just "skyscraper but more taller"
COUGH COUGH DUBAI LOOKIN' YOUR DIRECTION COUGH
@@cringeRick_Lamarliterally all of New York is skyscrapers. But sure you picked up on the mainstream idea and cant think for yourself
@@noblenormie1179 Dubai literally only builds shit like that for clout, the entire place is made with that express purpose.
Even skyscraper but more taller could be done in an interesting way tbh, fantasy designs like the Xseed4000 look amazing
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.
The architecture side of youtube or even architectural theory is a bit too focused on recent works and historical (often of higher quality) works get left behind.
This is so true; the same for me
An amazing channel that peeks in the subject if architecture is alt236 unfortunately it is in french but there are english subtitles. I highly recommend this channel. Its general subject is dark imagination but the quality of the videos is insane.
Yea me too! I guess we're bunch of historical weirdos now lol
@@concernedshrimp7816 Woohoo RUclips pals!🤣
It’s 4am and I’m crying because a French guy made some really big and really pretty buildings.
So dramatic
W berserk pfp
Get a grip of your knickers Doris
t h e r a p y
Michael jackson once ejaculated on himself while viewing a booklet of art designs made by a painter.. This happened during an interview. .. Thats how intune or out of control..m.j. Was with his emotions. ..holy shit🤓
All of his buildings are stunning. I would love to see them built even if at a much smaller scale.
You could buy some Lego? 😄
@@ChrisCohen NO I want them big enough 50 people can comfortably walk in the front door.
@@Auriorium So a lot of Legos.
They look like Hitlers vision of Germania actually.
@@OryxAU Yes
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.
Start harassing your local VR programmers now. That idea is worth a fortune
go build it in minecraft
I would like to have a video game set in a world of such architecture. Some kind of ancient steampunk fantasy world.
@@konstantinrebrov675 Dark Souls games have mega structures, whether its a castle, mountain range in the distance, cliffs dropping 1000ft down, its all exaggerated to the extremes.
@@jobdylan5782 tell me how youre gonna represent round cannon balls or the cannons in minecraft without using a 9:1 scale. and even then youd reach the world hight with less than 10% of the vertical structure. VR is a much better way to go about it. plus with AI you could import the drawings to give you a skelton to mold around. use the image scaler from google earth to render resolution at distance so its not fully rendered at any given time (too hardware intensive) while still preserving the massive scale. alternatively you could use blockchain tech to create an imutable database holding the info, shared by the people visiting the "server" to crowd source the render.
I've always been really impressed by Boullée's imagination and designs. Thank you very much for laying them out to us so clearly.
As a janitor i'd be constantly asking "HOW the freaking hell do you even HEAT these places?".
In case of the public buildings, the answer will most likely be "You don't. You come here in your outdoor clothing, if you'll survive outdoors you'll be fine indoors too".
As for the palaces and other buildings where people live, I'd assume the more grandiose and public rooms too are kept without heating, with heating reserved for more intimate and thus smaller rooms, like bedrooms. For them, a fireplace per room will suffice.
Forget heating, "How the Heck are these Giant intricate buildings going to be Cleaned?!!!!
@@ahmedshaharyarejaz9886 easy answer... with child labor
architects be like "let the engineers figure that out"
Aye they'd be freezing
Imagine being a jannie in any wan of those buildings tho mwahahahah
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.
Hideous, dehumanizing and worthy of Hitler or Stalin.
100% intentional. during the time period architects were really into the concept of the sublime, which is pretty much exactly what you described. "imposing, the individual becomes almost insignificant". the goal of the architecture is to present a feeling of terror and awe much in the same way that a giant mountain would or a rainstorm or a crumbling building covered in moss and rubble
Exactly, architecture as intimidation and to subdue the individual. All power to the state! 😖
it was, and is, a common trend in architecture. as lunammoon said, to call on the sublime or absoluteness of a concept in a frank and wholistic manner. not trying to skirt away from the ultimate purpose and profundity of lofty things like justice or rule or death or knowledge.
kind of gives me platonic notes of calling upon perfect forms.
@@spacelemur7955 well, I guess thats all about how you want to frame it. I mean, a lot of Boulée's architecture was LITERALLY intended to support and facilitate the dignity of the indivigual and revolutionary french republican virtues, again with things like awarding farmers for their hard work and stuff in bold, unapologetic magnitude. all of course in reference to the larger public nature of things as well.
but like I mentioned, its about what lense you take of it.
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.
Definitely
I knew there was something about how spectacular those drawings looked in the manga but I just couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was
Bro I was thinking just that
was just thinking the same thing. reminds me of how he was inspired by mc escher when the god hand was first introduced
I wouldn't be surprised, he also referenced hieronymus bosch!
Imagine a mind like this working not only on architecture on Earth, but potential extraterrestrial architecture for humanity.
Well it’s easy to create large grand structures when all you’re concerned is with the message you want to make to make about size and power. As opposed to being concerned with logistics, or god forbid just general usability and livability of such a structure lol
@@BirdBrainHarus Good point. Still fascinating from an aesthetic point of view though imo.
@@thegercast4794 of course not, and my mistake if I came across as implying that was so. I think there’s plenty of good existing examples of architecture that is both practical and awe inspiring. But that’s not what this architect seemed to be concerned with
Not for humanity but for weasels
@@BirdBrainHarus not everything must be practical just like how not everything is awe insipring.
The perfect example of "I wanted to be an artist, had to learn architecrure, so am doing art in architecture now."
Artchitecture
Architecture is art
@bjornkemmsies3660 It is however of necessity much more functional and practical, because the failure of a completed architectural work could kill and maim huge numbers, destroy and damage other infrastructure and impact countless livelihoods, these all would have massive economic impacts.
These are direct *material* factors that architects must consider that most forms of art needn't.
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?
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
I have never read the books but it's time I did. The movie is visually amazing.
Exactly what I thought. I wonder if Denis Villeneuve knows of this mans work. All I see in some of the architecture is Harkonnen, like the Colosseum.
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
And
- The Architect's Dream by Thomas Cole
- Dune 2021 movie architecture
Diocletian's baths and Croatian palace still exist. They're not in their original state, but they're both more or less intact.
John Martin is a wonderful artist even though he depicts the scenery in his works in an „end of the world“ scheme rather than a perfect, absolute society
And:
-Giovanni Bautista Piranesi and his Imaginary Prisons series.
Hugh Ferris is basically the art deco version of this guy.
In a way, it feels like Etienne-Louis Boullee was way ahead of his time. His mode of thinking was not whether something was financially viable to design, so much as whether or not it could be designed. And his designs with the trees and the use of spheres and rings is just something that I really appreciate.
I think that Boullee would have been right at home on the concept art team for films like Tomorrowland, or on the design team for places like Marina Bay in Singapore.
It is worth noting that Boullée's architecture is radical -- at least insofar as imaginary architecture can be considered such -- not only for its scale and austerity, but also for its emphasis on voids. This reflects the profound post-Newtonian shift in the perception of space, and the universe, wherein the cosmos, now a cold vacuum, was no longer representable by the florid profusion of baroque design but rather by absences enclosed by stark geometric forms. This is one of those key details which helps to contextualize Boullée's work within a new paradigmatic climate.
as an artist: I am at awe at his works, just makes me feel bad it doesn't exist irl
im am glad nature gifted us the strength of deep imagination
Im thinking it's probably a good thing the untransversable megastructures designed to glorify the power of the state only exists in art and aren't actually how people are supposed to live
@@tenletters5889 cool enjoy your soulless modernist glass cube apartments then
@@counterfeit6089 nah if I was a city planner/architect I'd pretty much just make gothic Netherlands
God gifted us, not nature
@@outsidechambaz I know you think you're being helpful but you're really not
This video is such a delight. Thank you!! I love the grand scope and gravity of Boullée’s work, akin in architecture to what John Martin is in painting.
His architecture immediately made me recall the drawings of Germania presented to Hitler by Albert Speer. I would not be surprised to learn that Speer was heavily inspired by Boullée.
Yes I thought the same... It's all very.... Nope I'm not going to say it. They are buildings designed to manipulate our emotions, from the classical via gothic to modernism, from religious to political to secular. They do it well
This video is a dream come true, thank you.
Really glad you liked it, I've been wanting to make this for a long time 😊
i LOVE not just architecture, but anything that is enormous in scale. seeing the scale of these structures, they definitely achieve their goals of being awe-inspiring.
man, the cenotaph for Isaac Newton is absolutely amazing. The idea of inverting day and night time inside the sphere is genius....
Merci pour ce bel hommage rendu à un grand architecte.
Étienne-Louis Boullée a su associer le classicisme à la Française à la plus extraordinaire modernité…
Newton totally deserves such a Cenotaph. There a few human being we owe so much to. Plus the building would be a marvel in itself.
Anyone else realize how perfect the music to go with this video is?
It's every type of classical I like
Why are humans fascinated by gigantic architecture?
I think it's because you can experience the enormity of the space.
The size of a space cannot be understood just by its existence.
No matter how high a mountain is, you cannot experience the space it occupies.
However, by entering the interior of a huge building, humans can experience the greatness of the vast space.
That is a great way to describe the feeling
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
He admires Newton mayhaps, but remember, he is a frenchman Isaac was an englishman, ofc subconsciously he would try to screw the english
Not a fan of Voltaire or rene Descartes??
These drawings do a great job capturing the impossible and otherworldly scale of these designs
dude the feeling that those sketches or whatever you'd call those. they give me a feeling i cannot describe. it's a mix of awe and nostalgia for a life never lived and the city of ascension that would play host to these buildings. it's the definition of the phrase "hauntingly beautiful". its even further potentiated by the tones of the shadows and the 19th centuries almost universal sense of beauty and wonderment, aside from america that is. ffs.
Boullee's building are now one of my absolute favourites, I think. They inspire in me some eerie feeling. I would love to walk around in them, I really would, but they feel... scary. antiutopian. otherwordly. They look unreal, and thus make me thinks of being outside of the human realm. I imagine these building as achitechture in fae world in Celtic religion, or something similar. It's truly remarkable...
Why antiutopian? They look pretty utopian to me.
They are too big for simple humans. It looks like greek gods and giants would walk between them.
Your words mean nothing. Have you just heard of this guy? And now you believe he’s your favorite upon watching a random 19 minute RUclips video. It’s almost like you have no experience at all with the architectural medium. Stop trying to act cool and go cultivate yourself so that you’ll have something unique to offer the world. Until then just shut up. Loser.
Bro fr just did sth there 💀
They’re ugly imo and it’s not even about the ration of utility and occupied space, but simply the fact that there are no resources on earth to build something like and definitely no place in France lmao like. They are ugly, fake, useless, exaggerate. How would a human walking near such walls even see the whole structure?! You’d need to be 5km away to see the whole thing, which defeats the point of “enlightenment of humans” cause the humans you’re enlightening are shit balls away. They look like monsters. This dude just drew weird ass shit trying to assign a meaning to it. That’s literally what humans do, act and ONLY THEN give meaning to their actions, brainwashing themselves into thinking they had a reason from the start. “Inspiring architects” to do what? Is this an art context? Art does not need such virtue signaling designs. People so easily get shocked that they’d give meaning and importance to anything. You can say the unrealness of such designs is what inspires to go beyond but literally what are you even talking about? It’s not about being a visionary as to just wanting to draw big places and somehow people worship you for butchering that which should have been another job you had to do. But of course fame and grandeur always tricks people
In all his designs, he had eternity in view.
this is excellent!
A lot of these designs really make me think of platonic perfect forms and theoretical plain geometries and mathmatics like calculus. almost like the architect is showing mans ability to peal back reality and call upon its core essence and understand in its basic geometric shapes.
a bold minimalism.
I love things that involve taking regular things and amping them up to the hypothetical and impossible. It always gives me such a sense of wonder and awe and the strong desire to make them possible.
Your channel is one of my all-time favourites. I can't fathom why you're not more popular, but I trust that you'll eventually find the engagement you merit.
Just imagine what this man could have done with Minecraft.
The fact that these were created in the 1700s and not the 1920s is just mind blowing. It would be like discovering that Rembrandt beat Geiger to the punch. I can't help but see the parallels in Speer's work. Megalithic Brutalism, 250 years early.
His art really reminds me of those megastructures intended for space that we usually see in sci-fi. It's interesting because it really does look like just that, but it's less advanced. Reminds me of the SandalPunk punk aesthetic since it looks like the ancient times met new technologies that advanced them into a new era.
I been in some of the worlds biggest churches and as a man of atheism, the sheer size and beauty of these colossal buildings that took hundreds of years to build, leaves a tremendous emotional effect on you.
It can easily be understood why people turned to religion upon entering a grand cathedral, there was no question in my mind that this place was holy and respect was to be established.
I had this exact experience on a train passing Arundel. I saw the cathedral and castle on the horizon and the cathedral especially looked colossal in the otherwise empty countryside. Almost like it was some kind of dragon like creature off in the distance.
I hate the antichrist (United Nations)
I have huge respect for the designers, builders and owners of these colossal antique buildings
I agree, but I also find the entire enterprise manipulative. Which it is, of course, but I mean it evokes not the wonder of gods, but suspicion in the authorities who seek to bamboozle and cow the people. Such structures, ultimately, are more about earthly power than divine power to the states and organizations that maintain them. They glorify the state even more than god
Big building = god
The drawings are beautiful works of art, and the vastness of them is incredible! Reminds me of the buildings from Star Wars prequels
Looking at Isaac Newton's cenotaph, I thought how futuristic it was, despite it calling back to antiquity, it's ambition places it in the eternal future, there will never be a time where there is such an end to scarcity where such conceptual structures would be realised, at least not without global significance. But that's what conceptual futurist aesthetics often does. Invokes a time where technology gives artists unlimited freedom. So despite his own designs being antique, they will eternally be projected onto a future that will never be realised.
Timeless, immortal architecture.
The Engineers: “So how big were you thinking for this monument?”
Étienne: “Yes”
If heaven had architecture, this would be it. Such eldritch scale yet welcoming presence, like the more bizarre angels.
There is nothing divine about this architecture. This is the product of Revolution-Era France, a nightmarish dystopia run by the devil himself.
his view on temples is so wonderful
I've said it before, and I am saying it again. Your channel deserves way more subs. Feels like I am learning history in a comfy chair.
You should also make a video on Antonio Sant'Elia another architect who despite never getting anything built in his lifetime left behind lots of drawings & blueprints that have been very inspirational
Welcome back. I always enjoy watching your wonderful videos with your soothing narration. :)
I’ve never heard of this man before. His designs are among the most impressive that I’ve ever seen. Thanks for introducing us to him!
Étienne's palace designs greatly remind me of the finnish parliament house, i wonder if the architect was taking inspiration from him.
This architectural style is absolutely marvelous. It seems like a combination of ancient, but also futuristic at the same time. As if ancient civilizations lasted to the modern day, this is the kind of architecture that they would be building. I call it ancientpunk. Although these buildings were not impossible to build technically, but they were beyond the limits of abilities of Europe at that time, and probably they are beyond the limits of modern time too. It would have been wonderful if this man could have manifested matter using his mind. If he had some kind of powers to make the buildings just appear out of thin air like that.
Thank you for covering my favorite exterior architect! Percier and fontaine will forever be the greatest interior designers and I’d love to see a video on them.
The scale of these buildings are impressive, and worthy of an epic scifi movie.
I have waited for this. :D
Edit: The choice of music is superb. I thought your previous videos were already perfect but this one is even better.
Someone should create a video game set in a world with such architecture. Some kind of ancient steampunk fantasy world. I would totally play it for the sheer joy of exploring the city and marveling at the architecture.
Large structures like these make for very tedious travel in games, unless you set the whole game in one of them
@@lucyferos205Considering how huge these are, it’s a possibility.
Absolutely mesmerizing. Thank you so much for sharing such an interesting set of works. It’s always a little humbling to remember that people have always been dreaming of large impossible things. That no matter how much time has passed our imaginations are endless ❤
Thanks very much for your dedication! And specially for leaving the resources down below, it's priceless to be able to read and consolidate the information with additional readings and also not having to spend time finding them by ourself.
Thank you so much for this video. I've always had a fascination with Boullée, and to see this greatly put together video was great. I only wish some of these monuments were built! Can't wait to see what's coming up.
I think for me what really sells the scale is the nested structures. In one of these images, he shows a massive city, with an incomprehensibly large wall, each corner with a 400ft tall tower, each tower topped with an arena larger than the Roman Colosseum. At first glance it's big, but it has the unique quality that the closer you look, the more terrifyingly enormous you realize it all is.
As others have asked, where did you find all this information and these high quality images?
Didn’t know I needed this until now. This dude is now my favorite architect. Excellent video!
Where did you find the pictures in such high quality?
Favorite architect? I guess it's just a matter of taste, but have you seen Antoni Gaudí?
@@S6brapoiss_Tupsu just looked him up and yeah he designed some pretty darn cool stuff as well. The church of the sagrada família is something else!
I would also like to know this, I can't find anything HD.
This dude's Minecraft realm would be craaazy
Another excellent video from Kings and Things. The mix of powerful images, excellent script and quality narration made this wonderful to watch. It took me back to the first time I saw the work of Boullée when I was an architecture student in the 70s.
The amount of research you did for this, the eloquent language you use, the classical music and beautiful panning images. I love love, LOVE this video, I am so glad I stumbled upon this! or rather RUclips AI stumbled on it and posted it on my recommended, but alas, thank you for this amazing creation :)
I always enjoy watching your videos. Thank you!👋
I'm rarely in awe, but this... Wow. That inspires. Thanks!
Your architecture videos are the best. You should make more of them
I can't tell you how happy I am for this video. I have literally been hoping you guys would make it. Thanks a lot G.
I'm new to this channel and subject. I'm fascinated. These designs are mesmerising and so immense. I can only imagine what they may have looked like if they were brought into reality. What an informative and brilliant video. I'm glad I clicked on it. 😌😁
I find Boullée’s designs deeply unsettling but can’t put my finger on why. The overwhelming scale, maybe?
Yep. It’s components are too big, the columns and everything
As much as it would grand to see one of these buildings in real life, I know that just by being at the main entrance, it would put me in an existential breakdown.
I just found my favorite Architect, his works resonate strongly with me and my heart and soul.
Thank you for making this possible!
Just imagine the acoustics in these buildings. You shout something and hear it back a week later😂
I really appreciated the choose of the music and the tone of your voice, you made it feel like it looks
Boullée was truly a great architect, but profoundly affected by his historicity. The execution goes places the theory never could, but not every movement in the superstructure can be as timely as cubism or brutalism. Great video!
i love this video so much, watched it over and over
I get the same soothing feeling from watching these videos, as watching lemmino
I am plagued by the inhumane affliction of not ever being able to nap. On top of insomnia every night. I must have slipped around 6 minutes because the 9 minute mark woke me up, where I then turned it off and knocked out. Thankyou.
Loved the video. Boullée's works inspire a moments of awe that i've only ever experienced in places like the phili train station. His work's also remind me of Wes Anderson. But yeah, this is one of the best videos i've seen recently.
I don't know much, if anything, about architecture. That said this video was excellent, the pacing and narration is easily absorbed and thank you for listing the music used - this doesn't seem as common as it should be, so again it's very appreciated.
Etienne-Louis Boullee and Hugh Ferris are my favorite architects just for how awe inspiring their senses of scale are.
I'm a big fan of his work. Thank you for making this!
To this day I hold that human existence should be no less grand than what Boullée envisioned. Let's get to work.
Pretty cool video explaining the idea and rational and philosophical ideals behind the buildings
I love this cause his drawing resemble ancient structures like those that we cannot create today e.g pyramids, Mayan, Inca, Aztecs. For both technological and societal reasons have changed architecture to a strict utilitarian, rather than communal or observational areas
Appreciation can make a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary.
The Cultural Affairs Center in Tijuana, Mexico is a direct inspiration of Boulee's cenotaph for Isaac Newton, although much smaller.
Boullee was great; I'm also a huge fan of Piranesi. Several of their imaginings have a similar feel of scale/complexity so grandiose and immense as to be impossible to build if not indeed impossible to comprehend. I'll grant you that Piranesi was more artist than architect but the point stands.
This sort of architecture is what we need. Not the garbage we have today.
I just want to see at least one of his works realized and built today. Unfortunately, it's far too huge and grand for anyone to willingly to construct. At least not in our lifetime.
This is genuinely Nazi architecture. We are better off without regressive styles projecting immutable state authority
I agree that modern architecture tends to suck but... what are these buildings for? How would they solve modern problems? The solution to suburban sprawl is not building a single giant church.
@@henryfleischer404 if you make the church big enough, you can fit an entire town in it. problem solved!
wow, what an amazing video. i just came across this in my recs, but im so so glad i clicked. these creations are absolutely amazing, every single structure felt equally as emotional as the last. its amazing to me that one mind can create so many ideas. wow
I cannot wait for VR to be immersive enough to all us to walk among these structures like they're really there
I love how these give awe and wonder but also fill you with existential dread.
There is something sci-fi-ish in his art. Reminds me of Dune (2021).
Thank you for shedding light on this golden nugget!! 🤩🙏
So who is gonna build these in minecraft?
Excellent video. Thank you for bringing this genius architect to my awareness.
This man's vision really looks like the architecture of a classical, grand society. One where all is well and conflicts don't tell. Where's the entirety of its society is one who loves peace, science, and art. They might be technologically less advanced, but they're culturally way more as advanced. It's truly something that looks like it belongs on a planet on a game like Destiny 2.
With that type of architecture and the engineering required, they would have to be technologically quite developed.