Professor emeritus publishes book on classical architecture

Professor emeritus publishes bookon classical architectureApril 29, 2005Jaime Winne Alvarez jlwinne@syr.edu

W.W. Norton recently published “Classical Architecture for the Twenty-First Century: An Introduction to Design” by Jean-Francois Gabriel, professor emeritus in Syracuse University’s School of Architecture. The book is an approachable guide to the theory and technique of designing classical buildings.

Intended as a practical text for learning how to design buildings in the classical tradition, the work is illustrated with sketches, diagrams, renderings and photographs to explain principles of classical design. Recent graduates of SU’s School of Architecture completed 40 of the included designs.

The book is designed to appeal not only to practitioner and student, but also to the average reader. Classical architecture, which has spread from Greece to Italy to France, Great Britain and the United States, is the first international style. It has seen a renewed interest in recent years, as architects move away from the excesses of some modern architecture. The book proposes an approach to the design of buildings based on the timeless values of civilized life.

“Right now, the fashionable trend in architecture is dominated by the expression of the individual architect’s personality. I believe in the value of tradition. That doesn’t mean I am looking backwards or uninterested in the present. I simply believe we have to look at the past to learn something,” says Gabriel.

First trained as a sculptor, Gabriel was one of the last graduates of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts to be exposed to the traditional educational system in architecture. In 1996 he received the Arthur Ross Award from the directors of Classical America for his major contributions to the classical tradition in education and in 2002 received the Pioneers Award from the Space Structures Research Centre at the U.K.’s University of Surrey. He has practiced architecture in Paris and the Midwest and East Coast in the U.S., and published “Beyond the Cube: The Architecture of Space Frames and Polyhedra” (John Wiley and Sons Publishers, 1997). Currently, he lectures on his new book and prepares exhibitions of his paintings.