Pellonnet was the designer of Paris's Concorde Bridge. Eighteenth-century architecture had been complicated, shifting from seductive Rococo to solemn Neoclassicism.
But with the founding of the National School of Bridges and Roads in 1747, that "tradition" finally came to an end. Architecture and science were split apart. Engineers could henceforth freely unleash the potential of technology, while imaginative architects could focus on designing houses. From then on, engineering belonged to engineering, and art belonged to art. Engineers gradually came to see their work as "the progress of humanity and society as a whole," and classical architectural theory gradually lost its reason for existing. When architectural theory could no longer address the gap between the conceptual logic of architectural forms and the complex demands of production, it was replaced by scientific calculation.
Pellonnet belonged to the "engineering school." As soon as he became an apprentice, he was put in charge of designing and constructing Paris's main underground sewer. At thirty-nine, he became director of the Royal Design Department, responsible for training bridge and road engineers and overseeing their practical work. However, he died of old age in 1794.
There were many of his "apprentices" in Napoleon's army. A man named Joseph Daus had even participated in the on-site construction of Concorde Bridge, and he was considered one of the senior figures in the entire "engineering school." This Pellonnet, who had taken part in the construction of Po River Bridge, was a junior member of that Concorde Bridge architect's family. Moreover, he was not responsible for the design, only the on-site construction. The chief designer had other work to complete.
This bridge also had to provide Turin's urban water supply and might even become a major hydraulic project in central Italy in the future. There was also the archaeological excavation of Trajan's