Louis Le Vau (1612 - 11 October 1670) was a French architect and designer who erected numerous private mansions in Paris and important castles in the Capital area.

His most renowned realisations remain within the Castle of Vaux-le-Vicomte (see Figure 1), in 1656.
The interior layout was a novelty in the architecture of French castles: the main abode is composed of two parallel suites of adjoining rooms, instead of one (see Figure 2) (audio guide).
This new configuration involved some inevitable structural changes, but, as intended by the architect, allowed almost no restriction in the rooms’ layout; concept until then unachievable (Livres groupe, 2010).
The central two-storey rotunda (containing the Grand Salon) protruding over the south façade is also a stroke of genius specific to Le Vau (see Figure 3), although the idea was brought from Italy.
The originality of this salon especially remained in its oval shape, typical of Baroque architecture, but uncommon at the time for a stateroom (audio guide).
Similarly, the other major innovation was to create a garden-view that would appear as an extended interior (audio guide).
In fact, great protagonist of the ‘Italianism’ in France, the architect ingeniously combined the Italian baroque style (play on concave and convex spaces) with the classical architectural tradition (balance and harmony between the volumes).
The dining room was also created by Le Vau, in a vaulted room the architect called ‘Salle des Buffets’ (audio guide) (see Figure 4), and which as well was a novelty in the traditional castles’ architecture as no room until then was dedicated to this purpose.

Le Vau then became the main architect of the King Louis XIV; making modifications in his Castle of Versailles (see Figure 5).
The most important modification, undertaken between 1668 and 1670, remains what the architect called the envelope (see Figure 6).
Often referred to as the Château Neuf to distinguish it from the older structure of