Léon Krier
Architect and Urban Planner
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Articles and book chapters
[Together, these can serve as an online textbook of Léon Krier's work that complements "Architecture: Choice or Fate". In preparing a definitive online version of each article, different versions have been combined -- I have kept the powerful first version and added new sections from subsequent versions -- Ed.]
The City Within the City
A + U, Tokyo, Special Issue, November 1977, pages 69-152.
Reprinted in: Architectural Design, volume 54 (1984), Jul/Aug pages 70-105.
Also in: Léon Krier: Houses, Palaces, Cities, Demetri Porphyrios, editor, Academy Publications, London, 1984.
A large or small city can only be organized as a collection of autonomous urban quarters. The dimensions of a quarter are determined by the comfortable reach of a walking person.The Reconstruction of the European City
Published in: Léon Krier: Drawings, Archives d'Architecture Moderne, Brussels, 1980, pages xxv-xxxi.
Revised version in: Architectural Design, volume 54 (1984), Nov/Dec pages 16-22.
All industrial states, independently of their ideology, have imposed functional zoning on cities and countryside with equal brutality and pseudoscientific arguments, against the resistance of urban and rural populations.Carta per la Ricostruzione della Città Europea
Versione Italiana di "The Reconstruction of the European City". Temi di Stefano Borselli (2002), circa 6 pagine.How Industrial Society Destroys Culture
Published as "The Reconstruction of the European City" in: RIBA Transactions, volume 1, number 2 (1982), pages 36-44.
Industrial society, like no other, is a society of human beings, a society which is obsessed with work, and yet the result of its work is but trivia and destruction.The Suppression of Classical Architecture in Postwar Germany
Extracts from "Krier on Speer", Architectural Review, volume 173 (1983), pages 33-38.
Earlier version of "Krier on Speer" published as "Vorwärts, Kameraden, Wir Müssen Zurück", in Oppositions, volume 24 (1981), Spring; reprinted in: "Oppositions Reader", Edited by K. M. Hays, Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 1998, pages 401-411.
Postwar Germany destroyed its cities in a misguided attempt at erasing the memory of the Third Reich. The rejection of Classical architecture after the Second World War was based on a series of errors and losses of memory.ARCHITECTURA PATRIAE; or The Destruction of Germany's Architectural Heritage
Architectural Design, volume 54 (1984), Jul/Aug pages 101-102.
Also in: Léon Krier: Houses, Palaces, Cities, Demetri Porphyrios, editor, Academy Publications, London, 1984.
Sixty percent of German buildings survived the Second World War, but less than fifteen percent survived the industrial plans of the postwar years.Urban Components
Architectural Design, volume 54 (1984), Jul/Aug pages 43-49.
Also in: Léon Krier: Houses, Palaces, Cities, Demetri Porphyrios, editor, Academy Publications, London, 1984.
The social and cultural complexity of a city has to do with its physical and structural complexity. We deduce the sizes of urban blocks that are more apt to form a complex urban pattern.Tradition -- Modernity -- Modernism: some necessary explanations
Architectural Design, volume 57 (1987), Jan/Feb pages 38-43.
Revised portions included in: "Eisenman versus Krier", Architectural Design, volume 59 (1989), Sep/Oct pages 7-18.
In a statement prepared for the Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Architectural Institute, Krier outlines the contrasting forces driving tradition and modernism, while carefully distinguishing the modernist movement from modernity.God Save the Prince
Modern Painters (London), No. 2 (1988), pages 23-25.
Reprinted in: Archives d'Architecture Moderne, volume 38 (1988), pages 12-21.
Reprinted in: Charles Jencks, "The Prince, the Architects, and New Wave Monarchy", Rizzoli, New York, 1988, pages 50-51.
A defense of Prince Charles against the reactions of British architects. Krier talks about the restoration of the Paternoster neighborhood, next to Saint Paul's in the City of London and, backed by figures, demonstrates the accuracy of the Prince's assertions.Building Heights, and Critical Problems of Plot-Ratios
Two sections from Architecture: Choice or Fate, Andreas Papadakis Publisher, Windsor, England, 1998, pages 156-161.
The most beautiful and pleasant cities which survive today have all been conceived with buildings of between two and five floors.Contemporary Perspectives
Published in: "Building Cities", Edited by Norman Crowe, Richard Economakis, and Michael Lykoudis, Artmedia Press, London, 1999, pages 40-41.
There exist universal principles for building good cities and villages. They transcend ages, climates, and culture. It is not history and age, but structure and ideas that confer quality to an urban context.Planning for Humanity
Open Democracy <www.opendemocracy.net> (August 2001), approximately 3 pages.
A defense of New Urbanism in the face of its distortion by critics. Proposes solutions to building in regions like England where land prices are excessively high.European Culture in the 21st Century
European Parliament, Directorate-General for Research, Document EDUC 107 EN Part 2 (2001), pages 31-33.
The ideology of modernism, which has devastated cities, landscapes and minds for half a century, continues to dominate the cultural policies of all European countries.The Future Of Cities: The Absurdity of Modernism -- Nikos Salingaros interviews Léon Krier
PLANetizen <www.planetizen.com> (November 2001), approximately 10 pages.
Reprinted in: Urban Land, volume 61 (2002), January pages 12-15.
Reprinted in: Archimagazine <www.archimagazine.com> (February 2002), approximately 9 pages.
A discussion on the future of cities after the September 11 tragedy. The most beautiful cities which survive in the world today have all been conceived with buildings of between two and five floors -- the era of the utilitarian skyscraper is at an end.Il futuro delle città: l'assurdità del modernismo -- Nikos Salingaros intervista Léon Krier
Traduzione Italiana di "The Future of Cities: The Absurdity of Modernism". Archimagazine <www.archimagazine.com> (Febbraio 2002), circa 9 pagine. Repubblicata in: Temi di Stefano Borselli (Luglio 2002).Building Civil Cities
Discussion with Michael Carey, Editor-in-Chief of Traditional Building Magazine (2005).
Books
Rational - Architecture - Rationnelle
Archives d'Architecture Moderne, Brussels, 1978. (Bilingual French/English text).Léon Krier: Drawings
Archives d'Architecture Moderne, Brussels, 1980. Introduction by Maurice Culot.Houses, Palaces, Cities
Demetri Porphyrios, editor, Academy Publications, London, 1984.
Published as the July/August issue of Architectural Design, volume 54 (1984).Albert Speer: Architecture 1932-1942
Archives d'Architecture Moderne, Brussels, 1985. (Bilingual French/English text).Architecture and Urban Design 1967-1992
Richard Economakis, editor, Academy Publications, London, 1992.Architecture: Choice or Fate
Andreas Papadakis Publisher, Windsor, England, 1998. Published in Czech, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, and Spanish. Winner of the Silver Medal of the Académie Française.
Articles on Krier
Review of Léon Krier's Architecture: Choice or Fate
James Howard Kunstler, The American Enterprise, 1998.Review of Léon Krier's Architecture: Choice or Fate
Ray Sawhill, Salon Magazine, 1998.
Online resources on Krier
Both archINFORM and archiworld have the same list of Léon Krier's publications.
Downtown Revitalization has a brief note on Krier's argument against zoning.
Krier Webpage * Biographical Information * Buildings and Projects