Editing Eugène Viollet-le-Duc (section)

==Architectural theory and new building projects==
[[File:Eugène Viollet-le-Duc - Iron-frame house with glazed earthenware cladding - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|200px|Project for an iron-frame house with glazed earthenware cladding (1871)]]
[[Image:Viollet-le-DucConcertHallEntretiens.jpg|thumb|right|Design for a concert hall, dated 1864, expressing Gothic principles in modern materials; brick, stone and cast iron. ''Entretiens sur l'architecture'']]
Viollet-le-Duc is considered by many to be the first theorist of [[modern architecture]]. Sir [[John Summerson]] wrote that "there have been two supremely eminent theorists in the history of European architecture – [[Leon Battista Alberti]] and Eugène Viollet-le-Duc."<ref name=summerson>{{cite book
 | last = Summerson
 | first = Sir John
 | author-link = John Summerson
 | title = Heavenly Mansions and Other essays on Architecture
 | publisher = Cresset Press
 | year = 1948
 | location = London }}</ref>

His architectural theory was largely based on finding the ideal forms for specific materials and using these forms to create buildings. His writings centered on the idea that materials should be used "honestly". He believed that the outward appearance of a building should reflect the rational construction of the building. In ''Entretiens sur l'architecture'', Viollet-le-Duc praised the [[Greek temple]] for its rational representation of its construction. For him, "Greek architecture served as a model for the correspondence of structure and appearance."<ref>{{cite web
 | last = Ochshorn
 | first = Jonathan
 | title = Designing Building Failures
 | publisher = Cornell University
 | url = http://www.ochshorndesign.com/cornell/writings/failures.html }}</ref>

Another component in Viollet-le-Duc's theory was how the design of a building should start from its program and the plan, and end with its decorations. If this resulted in an asymmetrical exterior, so be it. He dismissed the symmetry of classicist buildings as vain, caring too much about appearances at the expense of practicality and convenience for the inhabitants of the house.<ref name = Hearn>Hearn, M. F. (ed.), ''The Architectural Theory of Viollet-le-Duc – Readings and Commentary,'' Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1990</ref>

In several unbuilt projects for new buildings, Viollet-le-Duc applied the lessons he had derived from [[Gothic architecture]], applying its rational structural systems to modern building materials such as cast iron. For inspiration, he also examined organic structures, such as leaves and animal skeletons. He was especially interested in the wings of bats, an influence represented by his Assembly Hall project.

Viollet-le-Duc's drawings of iron trusswork were innovative for the time. Many of his designs emphasizing iron would later influence the [[Art Nouveau]] movement, most noticeably in the work of [[Hector Guimard]], [[Victor Horta]], [[Antoni Gaudí]] and [[Hendrik Petrus Berlage]]. His writings inspired several American architects, including [[Frank Furness]], [[John Wellborn Root]], [[Louis Sullivan]], and [[Frank Lloyd Wright]].<ref name = Hearn/>