The Architect and His Profession

What concepts does an architect use? What does he observe? What is architecture? E.-E. Viollet-le-Duc provides answers to these questions that shed light from the 19th century to the present day.

In his comprehensive work titled Dictionnaire raisonné de l'architecture française du XIe au XVIe siècle, the articles in which he addresses the identity of the architect and the fundamentals of his profession, along with the chapter "M. Paul Asks What Architecture Is" from Histoire d'une maison, are brought together in this book under the title "The Architect and His Profession."

"If the law of unity in architecture is not to be based on structure, that is, on the way of building, then what will it be based on? On taste? Is taste in architecture anything other than the correct use of means?"

"In architecture, appealing forms are imagined, whereas one should first carefully observe a construction or a need, determine what these require, and know whether these forms will definitively meet the demands of reason."

Author: Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc
Translator: Alp Tümertekin
Prepared for Publication by: Janus Yayıncılık
Page Count: 192
Size: 13.5 x 21 cm
Paper: 70 gr. Holmen
Inner Print: Black and White
Cover: 300 gr. matte coated
Publication Date: 06.03.2026