Nicolas Le Camus de Mézières

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Nicolas Le Camus de Mézières (1721-1789), French architect and theoretician, was horn at Paris on the 26th of March 1721, and died at the same city on the 27th of July 1789. He published several works on architectural and related subjects, including Architecture of Expression, and The Theatre of Desire at the End of the Ancien Régime; Or, The Analogy of Fiction with Architectural Innovation.

Le Camus developed a theory of architecture in which the character of a building should express its destination or the social status of its client. Unlike previous character theories in architecture, Le Camus's theory was based on an explicit analogy between architecture and theatre. His architectural mode of expression followed a temporal progression similar to the dramatic unfolding of a play, and gradations in ornamentation throughout the interior of a building resembled a succession of stage sets in a theatrical performance.

[edit] References

• Abstract of a PhD dissertation on Le Camus by Louise Pelletier
• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.