The persistence of Beaux-Arts epistemologies: Analysis, projection, and synthesis in contemporary architectural pedagogy

This paper aims to critically reassess the Beaux-Arts system not as a historical curiosity but as a persistent epistemological framework in architectural education. While the École des Beaux-Arts has often been dismissed as a conservative, formalist pedagogy, recent scholarship has revealed its intellectual complexity. Building on these reassessments, this study interprets its central exercises, analytique, esquisse, and composition, as tools of knowledge production rather than mere technical drills. Through comparative and interpretive analysis, the paper situates these practices within broader theoretical debates, linking them to modernist criticism, post-critical diagrammatic culture, and contemporary computational and phenomenological pedagogy. The findings demonstrate that the analytique functioned as a system of analysis and modular reasoning, the esquisse as a method of projection and diagrammatic abstraction, and the composition as a form of synthesis that mediated between part and whole. These epistemologies persist in design education, as evidenced by component-based modeling, rapid prototyping, and integrative digital workflows. Furthermore, the study highlights the transnational diffusion of the Beaux-Arts system, showing its adaptability in Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East. By reframing the Beaux-Arts as a transhistorical and global framework, the paper argues that its legacy continues to provide critical resources for rethinking architectural pedagogy. While the study is primarily theoretical, it establishes a framework for future empirical investigations into contemporary architectural pedagogy.