I've always been fascinated by classical elevations; I've spent hours geeking out over old engravings of façades and floorplans of buildings I'll never visit, buildings that have often never even been built. There's something about the way interior space is configured, especially, that I find captivating. How does the exterior architecture free or hinder those interior spaces? And what of the circulation, how do the rooms connect, how is function balanced with comfort and grace? Scanning old plans, my imagination has wandered endlessly through those real and unrealized buildings, nerdy little wanderings that I find delightfully distracting, even fairly hypnotic. But then - me being me - an elegant stair hall or a really terrific enfilade has been known to make me downright giddy!
The following plans are selections from the Recueil elementaire d'architecture, the eight folio volumes of architectural engravings by Jean-François de Neufforge (1 April 1714, Comblain-au-Pont - 19 December 1791, Paris) the Belgian architect and engraver. (Five more of these plans are featured above.)
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