Etienne Louis Boullée was commissioned to expand the Royal Library in 1780. Although his designs were never executed, his perspective drawing of the Library Royale makes a strong statement about the ideals of the Enlightenment, the importance of regularity and the effect of lighting in grandiose creations. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Boullée's design for the reading room includes a vast barrel-vaulted ceiling. Boullée promotes striking and original effects of light and shadow. This is represented in the library via an open section of the ceiling, allowing daylight to enter the room, giving life and movement. Similarly, Boullée suggests a modernized way of arrangement by placing book galleries on flat wall display cases. In his treatise, Boullée explains his intention, "an immense basilica lit by a skylight at the top of the vault... human chain of people placed on different levels distributed in such a way as to pass the books from hand to hand". Boullée promotes regularity, symmetry and variety in the reading room. He states that “…we find soft volumes pleasant while those that are angular and hard are repugnant to us.” Boullée demonstrated this by using Greek and Roman orders to combine classical elements on a grandiose scale for sublime dramatic effect. By arguing that proportion alone does not constitute the beauty of architecture, but rather regularity, symmetry and variety, they arrived at proportion. Boullée introduced the study of written words into the middle zone of the interior of his library. The group of men opened books and long scrolls around a small table. Under the ambient light permeating the rest of the room, the scholarly texts were held together in the balanced symmetry of a “simple volume” that calls for reflection on their true origins in the geometry of nature. The Essay on Art which presents the Royal Library was completed shortly after the events of the French Revolution and its contents certainly belong to the ideals of the Enlightenment and the politics of the time. In the utopian design of the reading rooms, Boullée attempts to combine the bases of pure geometry, in order to create the foundations of an ideal city. These are large outdoor and indoor public spaces and monumental buildings that express symbolic, artistic, political and ethical content. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay In Context Among Boullée's designs of purely architectural spaces and forms, it is established that perfect and regular geometric figures, such as the Basilica of the Royal Library, create the ideas of harmony, perfection and symmetry in the human spirit, thus pushing the soul to broaden its field of action. intuitions and embrace the entire cosmos. Boullée's task was not only to search for new forms but also and above all to discover their artistic effect. Boullée made it possible to see further into what had once been, hoping to help others experience the "noble transports" and "sublime thought" that would inspire the unknown journey to come..