The Completion of Washington, D.C., project, The National Gallery; The National Pantheon; The Grand Canal; The Mall, Perspective

Leon Krier

1985

A meticulous ink-and-graphite drawing that imagines a completed, classically ordered redesign of Washington, D.C., proposing a unified composition of monumental galleries, a National Pantheon, a Grand Canal, and formal civic axes.

You first notice the calm symmetry—the Capitol dome perfectly centered and mirrored in a broad, still canal—rendered in precise, even linework whose tiny details (a gondola in the foreground, a small airplane overhead) give human scale and a touch of irony.

This work exemplifies Leon Krier’s New Classical urbanism, asserting traditional axial planning and classical building types as an alternative to late-20th-century modernist city design and offering a poetic, programmatic vision for civic space.

Palette

Art Terms

Architectural drawing Architecture Drawing Ink Graphite Classicism Cityscape Perspective

Exhibitions

Visionary Architecture

1960

Architectural Models from the Collection

1974

Modern Architecture for the Modern School

1942

Architecture in Government Housing

1936