Royal Saltworks
The Directors House
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Longitudinal Section
Lateral Section
Floor Plan
North Elevation
South Elevation
Claude Nicolas Ledoux 1736-1806 “In order to be a good architect… one must be able to read in the vast circle of human affection ...”
The Royal Saltworks (Saline Royale) was designed by Persian architect, Claude Nicolas Ledoux from 1771-1779, located at Arc-et-Senans in the department of Doubs, eastern France. With salt being such a commodity, especially to the French, in the late 1700s, Ledoux was appointed Commissioner of Saltworks. Along with being deemed Royal Architect, he began work on the designs for the Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans simply based on his positions before being commissioned the project. It was to be the first civic campus funded by the French monarchy with the purpose of standardizing the production of salt. The design reflects the ideals of Enlightenment, it foreshadowed the coming of the Industrial and French revolutions, being both radical and inspired. It was an important and early example of Ledoux’s model of arranging buildings according to a rational geometry and a hierarchical relation between the parts of the project. The compound plan, which was Ledoux’s second to be submitted to King Louis XV, provides housing for workers, tax collecting buildings, and a place of worship, along with the Director’s House. With its belvedere top, this central peice of the semicircle anchored the complex, breaking the neo-classical mold with its blocked columns that had a commanding vertical presence. Today, the compound is a meticulously restored UNESCO World Heritage Site.