Rationalism (architecture)

Twentieth-century Rationalism derived less from a special, unified theoretical work than from a common belief that the most varied problems posed by the real world could be resolved by reason.

The architectural notions of the time gravitated more and more to the belief that reason and natural forms are tied closely together, and that the rationality of science should serve as the basis for where structural members should be placed.

Towards the end of the 18th century, Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand, a teacher at the influential École Polytechnique in Paris at the time, argued that architecture in its entirety was based in science.

[5]: 87–92 The architecture of Claude Nicholas Ledoux (1736–1806) and Étienne-Louis Boullée (1728–1799) typify Enlightenment rationalism, with their use of pure geometric forms, including spheres, squares, and cylinders.

In 1926, a group of young architects – Sebastiano Larco, Guido Frette, Carlo Enrico Rava, Adalberto Libera, Luigi Figini, Gino Pollini and Giuseppe Terragni (1904–43) – founded the so-called Gruppo 7, publishing their manifesto in the magazine Rassegna Italiana.

Pagano and Persico featured the work of the rationalists in the magazine, and its editorials urged the Italian state to adopt rationalism as its official style.

The Rationalists enjoyed some official commissions from the Fascist government of Benito Mussolini, but the state tended to favor the more classically inspired work of the National Union of Architects.

[9]: 204–7 In the 1950s in Italy, studies on rationalism and the methodology of science were developed in the twentieth century in particular by Gualtiero Galmanini, who left an imprint that was later followed by many, influencing the starchitects of his time.

[5]: 178–183 Rossi's book L'architettura della città, published in 1966, and translated into English as The Architecture of the City in 1982, explored several of the ideas that inform Neo-rationalism.

[5]: 166–72 [11]: 178–80 Architects such as Leon Krier, Maurice Culot, and Demetri Porphyrios took Rossi's ideas to their logical conclusion with a revival of Classical Architecture and Traditional Urbanism.