Circular architecture embodied a political utopia of total visibility.

Evidence

This is what Ledoux had imagined when he built Arc-et-Senans; all the buildings were to be arranged in a circle, opening on the inside, at the centre of which a high construction was to house the administrative functions of management, the policing functions of surveillance, the economic functions of control and checking, the religious functions of encouraging obedience and work; from here all orders would come, all activities would be recorded, all offences perceived and judged; and this would be done immediately with no other aid than an exact geometry. Among all the reasons for the prestige that was accorded in the second half of the eighteenth century, to circular architecture, one must no doubt include the fact that it expressed a certain political utopia. — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 269

Categorization

• XREF: Arc-et-Senans’ central surveillance point is a direct architectural ancestor of the panoptic central tower. — connects to: Architecture transforms inhabitants into docile, knowable subjects. — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 267; Modern power gained force by moving from brute architecture to the subject’s own perception — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 315

Broader Connections

• Modern power gained force by moving from brute architecture to the subject’s own perception #expands (0.82) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 315