L’architecture de la République

The schools in France during the third Republic were in brick, had two bodies – one for boys, the other for girls – they had symmetric courtyards and a covered playground. It is undoubtedly the most emblematic construction of public architecture in the XIXth century. What the author of this very-well documented book wishes to show is that other buildings were also the object of more or less standardized typologies, be it the police station or town hall, including the law courts. Furthermore, this building momentum did not die out with WW I. It even experienced new developments with the hygienist theories in the period between the two World Wars, particularly embodied in the schools of Marcel Lods or Marcel Lurçat – and thanks to the needs of reconstruction. From the town hall in the town of Clamart to the one in Boulogne-Billancourt, from the lycée Camille-Sée (in Paris) to the administrative centre in Pantin, certain emblematic programs were enhanced. That is, all the way to 1981, when the theory of great works tipped the scales and the Republics commissions took on a princely dimension…

• L’architecture de la République by Jean-Yves Andrieux, CNDP Editions, 2009, 29 €, ISBN : 978-2-240-02631-6