Concept Title: Geometry
Keywords: Structure, conceptual, guide
When I first opened “Fortifier les Places” by Blondel I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of words folding up on me; a neatly organized wall of justified text with barely any other structure but some italic letters to highlight certain passages. The lack of some sort of table of contents does not make it easier either; manoeuvring this book is no unchallenging task whatsoever. One eyecatcher (and the seemingly only orientation in this book) are small notes, printed on the sides of almost every page. They give the book somewhat of a structure, as they refer to the topics the according pages are dealing with (doing so in a very minimalist manner). Not even a picture or sketch breaks up this structure until the very end of the book, where the reader is presented with quite a few conceptual drawings, held in a rather geometrical manner, referring to the contents of the book. So, geometry is not only a defining attribute for the arrangement of the written pages themselves but is found here again.
What does break up the structure in the end quite a bit are actually the drawings, as some of them are printed on paper bigger than the rest of the book and thus stand out and/or have folding lines.
Another slight interruption in the book’s structural design can be found on the very first couple of pages, where what appears to be some sort of prologue is printed down. While still being a block of words, the variation in the fonts used there stands out in comparison to the rest – not only were italics in use, but also bigger fonts – noticeably names that are mentioned, most of them addressing “vostre majesté”.
If one was to just quickly breeze through the pages of “Fortifier les places” he’d very quickly conclude that the purpose of this book is clearly educational. But in fact, Blondel does not only want to educate the reader on how to build a fortress, but merely wants to set up a new development in this topic, introducing his own ideas and thoughts, touching upon the commonly used way back then but introducing refinement and improvement. In fact, Blondel, being an architect and engineer rather than an author, is seen as one of the most influential theorists of the rationalist architecture, not least to what he presented when publishing this book (which actually was one of only three writings he ever published).
Concept Title: Geometry
Keywords: Structure, conceptual, guide
When I first opened “Fortifier les Places” by Blondel I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of words folding up on me; a neatly organized wall of justified text with barely any other structure but some italic letters to highlight certain passages. The lack of some sort of table of contents does not make it easier either; manoeuvring this book is no unchallenging task whatsoever. One eyecatcher (and the seemingly only orientation in this book) are small notes, printed on the sides of almost every page. They give the book somewhat of a structure, as they refer to the topics the according pages are dealing with (doing so in a very minimalist manner). Not even a picture or sketch breaks up this structure until the very end of the book, where the reader is presented with quite a few conceptual drawings, held in a rather geometrical manner, referring to the contents of the book. So, geometry is not only a defining attribute for the arrangement of the written pages themselves but is found here again.
What does break up the structure in the end quite a bit are actually the drawings, as some of them are printed on paper bigger than the rest of the book and thus stand out and/or have folding lines.
Another slight interruption in the book’s structural design can be found on the very first couple of pages, where what appears to be some sort of prologue is printed down. While still being a block of words, the variation in the fonts used there stands out in comparison to the rest – not only were italics in use, but also bigger fonts – noticeably names that are mentioned, most of them addressing “vostre majesté”.
If one was to just quickly breeze through the pages of “Fortifier les places” he’d very quickly conclude that the purpose of this book is clearly educational. But in fact, Blondel does not only want to educate the reader on how to build a fortress, but merely wants to set up a new development in this topic, introducing his own ideas and thoughts, touching upon the commonly used way back then but introducing refinement and improvement. In fact, Blondel, being an architect and engineer rather than an author, is seen as one of the most influential theorists of the rationalist architecture, not least to what he presented when publishing this book (which actually was one of only three writings he ever published).