PREFACE II
序言二

Timothy Corrigan, Principal Timothy Corrigan, Inc蒂莫西·科里根 首席設計師蒂莫西·科里根公司

Even after its birth about 250 years ago, the Neo-classical style is still considered the epitome of refined elegance, beauty and grace in architecture and the decorative arts. The Neo-classical style with its clean lines and rigid symmetry was first developed in France in the mid-18th century and was quickly adopted throughout Europe. A direct result of the Enlightenment movement, the tastemakers of the period had become tired of the perceived excess of the previous century that was typified by the Rococo style, turned for inspiration to classical art and a desire to move away from overtly grand public spaces to create rooms that are more intimate and of human scale. The Neo-classical style, based on straight lines and rectilinear forms, used a selection of classical ornaments that were first applied to French architecture and decorative arts during the 1760s.My home in France's famed Loire Valley, the Chateau du Grand-Luce, has been called “one of the most precious elements of architecture of the French Enlightenment”. It is featured here in this book, as well as a book that I wrote entitled: “An Invitation to Chateau du Grand-Luce”. The chateau is a wonderful representation of how the principles of Neo-classical architecture continue to define elegant living on a human scale. What one finds at my chateau is how a structure as potentially imposing as Neo-classican chateau in the French countryside can be turned into a warm inviting place for the way that people actually live today. The guiding principles of Neo-classical architecture (symmetry, clean lines, human-scaled rooms) can be applied equally well to recreations of the past and even to the most contemporary forms of architecture.

即便是在其誕生后大約250年前，新古典主義風格仍舊被認為是建筑與裝飾藝術里精致、美麗、高貴和優雅的象征。以簡潔的線條和嚴格的對稱著稱的新古典主義風格在18世紀中葉首先在法國得以發展，并迅速風靡整個歐洲。啟蒙主義運動帶來的直接結果之一是這一期間的時尚弄潮兒已對先前泛濫的典型的洛可可式樣產生了視覺疲勞，繼而轉向尋找古典藝術靈感，并渴望摒棄過于宏大的公共空間，轉而打造更多加貼心、人性化的精致客房。基于直線和直線形式的新古典主義風格在18世紀60年代被首次應用于法國建筑和裝飾藝術的經典作品之中。

我的家坐落于法國著名的盧瓦爾河谷——大呂克城堡，它被稱為“法國啟蒙運動最珍貴的元素之一”。它在本書里閃亮登場，在我寫的那本《大呂克城堡的邀請》一書中也有它的“靚影”。這座城堡再現了新古典主義建筑原則詮釋人性化、高雅的居住理念的全過程。在我的城堡里，一座法國鄉村的新古典主義城堡華麗變身為一個溫暖誘人之所、一個適宜現代人實際生活之地。新古典主義建筑的指導原則（對稱、流線型、人性化的空間設計）同樣適用于過去的娛樂消遣建筑，甚至適用于當代建筑。