artistic urbanism
Introduction
Beaux Arts Architecture[1] refers to the classical academic architectural style, which was taught at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris (Paris National School of Fine Arts), and is also widely known as French academicism, because it follows the rules of said Academy. The "Beaux Arts" style is above all the result of a century and a half of instruction under the authority, first of the « Académie royale d'architecture », and after the revolution, of the architectural section of the « Académie des Beaux-Arts ». The organization under the Ancien Régime of the competition for the « Grand Prix de Rome » in architecture, which offered the opportunity to study in Rome, imprinted its aesthetic codes on the course of instruction, which culminated during the Second Empire (1850-1870) and the Third Republic that followed. The style of instruction that produced Beaux-Arts architecture continued without major renewal until 1968.[2].
The "Beaux Arts" style of architecture influenced the style of the United States in the period 1885–1920. Other European architects of the period 1860-1914 tended rather to gravitate toward their own national academic centers than to focus on Paris. The British architects of Imperial Classicism, in a development that culminated in Sir Edwin Lutyens' government buildings in New Delhi, followed a somewhat more independent course, due to the cultural policy pursued at the end of the century.[3][4].
Characteristics of the Beaux-Arts style
Although the "Beaux Arts" style incorporates an approach to a regenerated spirit within the great traditions rather than to a system of decorative motifs, the main characteristics of Beaux-Arts architecture can be summarized:
On the eve of the First World War, the style began to find greater competitors among the architects of Modernism and the nascent International Style. The prestige of the École gave the "Beaux Arts" style a second chance at harmonizing new modes with traditional training. All trainee architects went through the obligatory stages, studying ancient models, constructing analos, analysis reproducing Greek or Roman models, "pocket" studies and other conventional steps in the long competition for the few desirable places at the French Academy in Rome (contained in the Villa Medici) with the traditional requirements of submitting presentation drawings called the at intervals.