In search of the lost house: the primitive hut according to Laugier and Semper

Abstract

This paper aims to compare two theoretical investigations on the primordial house that renewed the discussions on the subject in the architectural field: that of Marc-Antoine Laugier and that of Gottfried Semper. In both, the primitive dwelling is a hut, a human product, designed and manufactured by men and, therefore, subject to theoretical reflection. Dissatisfied with the contemporary condition of Architecture, evaluating the moment as a time of distortion in architectural practice, Laugier and Semper, each in their own time, used this imagined house as a discursive strategy to propose changes in their field. In these authors, the image of the hut and the discourse about it served, to a great extent, as an expedient for times of crisis.