Léon Krier

Architect, architecture theorist, urban planner. Currently lives in Provence.
In the Czech Republic, he is the most well-known representative of contemporary traditionalism thanks to the translation of the book Architecture - Choice or Destiny (Prague 2001, orig. London 1997, translated by Jaroslav Huťa).

Study of architecture: Stuttgart, unfinished
1968-74 internship with James Stirling, London
lecturer: Architectural Association, London, Princeton, Yale, etc.
since 1988 consultant to Prince Charles
2002 co-founder of the New School for Traditional Architecture & Urbanism (Charleston)
Younger brother of architect Rob Krier

Realizations:
Few completed structures
(Former) private villa, Seaside, Florida
Piazza, Alessandria, Italy, with Gabriela Tagliaventi
The Jorge M. Perez Architecture Center, University of Miami, Florida, 2005

L. Krier is primarily known for his theoretical texts, drawings for the traditional restoration of deurbanized areas of European cities (Luxembourg, Paris), and as the author of the project new town Poundbury (since 1988, southern England), based on the ideas of Prince Charles and constructed on his land. Construction began in 1993, with four phases planned over approximately 20 years. The municipality is expected to house around 5,000 residents.

From Krier's thoughts (according to the book Architecture - Choice or Destiny):

• "In future architecture, the rule of a single 'democratic party' will be replaced by pluralism, which is our highest imperative."
• Modern and some historicizing "buildings 'mimic' airplanes, steamers, and trains, refineries, silos, and railway stations, and instead of enriching the world, they clutter it with absurdity."
• "The basic typological inventory of architecture is necessarily limited and cannot be discovered endlessly."
• In architecture "similarly to the category of 'good things in life' [love, rules of behavior, …] individual creativity is needed only rarely. A poet does not excel in inventing new words, but in allowing us to understand our life anew and poetically through a special arrangement of common expressions."
• "Architecture found its highest expression in classical orders, and no army of geniuses can improve it, just as one cannot perfect the organs and skeleton of the human body."
• "Building and caring for a city is among the highest goals of our abilities and efforts."
• Traditional does not always mean historicizing; historicism (even modernist) is nostalgic, yet it can still be beautiful and of high quality.
• It is necessary to overcome the false dictate of the "spirit of the age", creation must "transcend ... the limiting particularities of the moment of its creation," to communicate "enduring... values".

• Classical architecture
• "… has greater general validity than language, as it is understandable to all people without the need for translation."
• is non-partisan, "because it is the expression and exclusive tool of the entire public sphere."
• is in harmony with sustainable development
• is hierarchical (against disregarding established social and visual structures)
• supports the development of other arts and crafts, i.e., individual creativity (against industrialization, mass production, and "alienation.")
• is beautiful: "There is nothing more exhausting than ugliness. We have no defense against the effect of this disintegrating power."