E.E. Viollet-le-Duc: Innovation and Tradition in Architecture

The experiments carried out in the last few decades on reinforced or pre-stressed stone continue to conceal, like the Eighteenth century architecture, the metal inside the stone. In the Nineteenth century, Violletle- Duc warns of the limits and proposes a way to cross, although without having the tools to verify its validity, therefore he merely gives suggestions for a good design. These suggestions contained in some pages of the Entretiens sur l'architecture and L' Art Russe are the subject of this study that analyzes projects carried out by Viollet-le-Duc in terms of form and structure. Works in which the stone assembled in accordance with the stereotomic principles dear to French tradition, interacts and cooperates with the metal (cast or laminated iron, depending on the role that it is due to perform) creating new forms using principles and rules of compositional tradition. Artworks that can be a resource for the design of large contemporary buildings if appropriately updated and discussed.