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This paper investigates the infrastructure projects undertaken for the event initially known as the Semaine des sports d'hiver, which took place in Chamonix, France, from 25 January to 4 February 1924 and was later recognized as the first Winter Olympics. Although the already famous resort town was able to use its existing hotels to accommodate visitors and athletes, it also made a considerable investment in the construction of new sports infrastructure. Following an agreement signed just 9 months before the Games, these facilities included a large ice rink, a bobsleigh run and a ski jump. The project was entrusted to the Ponts et Chaussées engineers, who encouraged local firms to help with the construction. Archival analysis will be used to examine the relationship between the project and the changing environment. Our aim is to show how the work in Chamonix modified the environment by exploiting certain natural elements (e.g. water, soil and forests) and, conversely, how the natural (in particular, the geological and climatic) and historical (notably land ownership) components of the environment affected the execution of these works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between the 1920s and the 1970s in France, the teaching of construction in architecture schools has undergone major modifications in relation to its social, intellectual, and professional context. The present article aims to understand the role played by the teaching of construction in the architects' relationship to building techniques and to engineers. The study of a set of textbooks, considered as pedagogical devices and professional guides, and used in 1921 by Edouard Arnaud to teach construction at the Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, and at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, tackles the role of teaching construction in architecture and engineering curricula and its influence on the profession. This study relies on a comprehensive analysis of the set of textbooks, considering its materiality and its written and visual content, combined with relevant elements from its author's biography, publications, and pedagogical production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In many countries, there is a great number of old buildings with local architectural, patrimonial, aesthetic and historic interest. They are the products of the vernacular traditional architecture fully integrating the environmental, social and economic local constraints. Moreover, this built inheritance is more heterogeneous than the modern stock of existing buildings. The historical buildings were built with different architectural designs featuring local styles of construction, different techniques and historical expertise. By experience, the actors of the building sector know that the thermal behaviour of historical buildings are not those of modern buildings set up at the time of the industrial period. However, they do not have assessed these specific thermal characteristics of historical buildings. This paper describes the complexity of architectural designs of historical dwellings in France. A field investigation during one year highlights various thermal characteristics of 11 dwellings. It provides a new understanding of thermal behaviour of these historical dwellings. The results show the thermal characteristics of historical dwellings and their differences with modern architecture. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article describes the Lycee Polyvalent building in Frejus, France designed by British architect Norman Foster. It provides relevant architectural drawings, floor plans, blueprints, architectural perspectives and site plan of different sections of the building. The paper also describes the materials and architectural elements and style used in the project.

The article discusses the relationship between the fluctuating market prices of early modern architectural buildings, the volatility of a speculative credit economy premised on colonial resource extraction, and the performance of the stock market in the early 18th century. Also cited are the banknote credit system developed by controller-general of finances John Law, the Mississippi Bubble (1716-1720), and the valuation of the Parisian mansion of the Count of Evreaux.

The article discusses the reform of the French aulic space during the late 18th century. Topics include the architectural work of architects Charles Percier and Pierre-Léonard-François Fontaine, inspired by their master Antoine-François Peyre, the improvement of the emblematic palace of the French monarchy Versailles, and the stark geometry of the throne at the palace of the Tuileries designed by Percier and Fontaine.

The eponymous tower, as noted by its chief architect Alexandre Gustave Eiffel himself, overshadows his other structural marvels. It is not just the beauty of the Tower that ought to impress an onlooker but also its optimality. Eiffel, as we explain in this article, excelled in using the material in the most optimal way in many of his structures that include more than 42 bridges and many buildings built in various parts of the world.Wealso draw an analogy between Nature's designs and Eiffel's designs in the way the material is arranged hierarchically with different shapes at different scales. We consider the Maria Pia Bridge and the Eiffel Tower to illustrate this point and highlight their optimal characteristics. We argue that the structural designs of Eiffel & Co. have an aesthetic appeal that emerges from the economic use of material with their roots in rigorous engineering principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ideal town plans of the Renaissance had a radial scheme with a centre like the single viewpoint of the perspective, the 'owner-controller-ruler's' place.[sup2] Until the eighteenth century, however, this scheme was seldom applied. Its popularity reached a climax in the second half of the nineteenth century in Haussmann's reorganization of Paris, which became a model of urban modernization for other countries. In nineteenth-century Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, a radial scheme was first applied in Pera where large number of Europeans lived and later within the city walls of the ancient peninsula, the traditional centre of Istanbul. In neither part of the city did it function as in Paris. The aim of this article is to discuss why the radial plan scheme did not become a more important element in the modernization process of Istanbul, and to discuss whether it worked there as it did in Paris. This discussion will involve comparing the Ottoman and Western European understandings of the world as given visual expression in painting and reflected in the design of cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Influential developments in landscape architecture paralleling those in architecture, industrial design, and engineering occurred during the French Second Empire (1851–1870). The civil engineer J.C.A. Alphand oversaw the design and construction of the Parc des Buttes Chaumont located in Paris's 19th arrondissement. The park opened concurrently with the Exposition Universelle on April 1, 1867; it is the only extant installation associated with the exposition. The park demonstrated advances in landscape design through numerous innovations in construction and materials, particularly concrete. Alphand's theoretical treatise and the physical presentation of the park as an engineered landscape fundamentally shifted the practice of landscape design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explores the influence of colonial modernity in the architectural design of the Grande Mosquee of Paris, France. Relationship between colonial modernity and the planning of the modern city; Significance of the link between monument, commerce, industry and the exotic; Descriptions of the Mosque.

Describes the architecture of a house in Bordeaux, France. Travel conditions in locating the house; History of the house construction; Existence of several patios; Adjustment of house design to accommodate needs of wheelchair-bound patient; Wall colors of each room; Relevance of simple materials and good finishes in architectural design.

Focuses on the architectural design of the cathedrals of Chartres and Soissons in France. Suggestion that cathedral of Chartres has occupied a central position in the history of western architecture; Design sources for the cathedrals of Chartres and Soissons; Structural design of the cathedrals.