Benoît Jallon Livres

Throughout the nineteenth century, Paris underwent profound transformations that reached every part of the city. Georges Eugène Haussmann, prefect of France’s Département Seine, who was behind the master plan for this rebuilding of the capital, embodies this century of public works that continues to shape the city today. Paris Haussmann explores the characteristics of this homogenous yet polymorphous city, the result of the lengthy process of  “Haussmannization.” For the first time, editors Benoît Jallon, Umberto Napolitano, and Franck Boutté have conducted extensive research on roadways, public spaces, and buildings and blocks, among other aspects, in order to explore the capacity of the Haussmann model to contend with the challenges contemporary cities are faced with today. In addition to a wealth of new research, the book features nearly five hundred illustrations, including maps, photographs, plans, and axonometric projections.

This richly illustrated book is a monument to modern urban construction in Naples. It features some fifty new photos by celebrated French photographer Cyrille Weiner as well as historic images and drawings of important architectonic details, and an atlas of eighteen significant buildings dating from 1930-1960 illustrated with site and floor plans, elevations, and sections. It reveals how this southern Italian metropolis developed its own form of modernism, one that combined Mediterranean culture with local materials and a strong internationalist spirit. The topical essays and concise descriptions of the documented buildings, together with the lavish illustrations make for a hugely attractive and lively portrait of Naples. This fascinating city is both famous and infamous--but its qualities and individuality in terms of architecture and urban development really should be better known.