Reading rsponse 6: Architecture of the Renaissance

         Architecture of the Renaissance was a start of a new age in architecture. Architecture which expressed mathematical clarity and  the rationality of the divine order of the Universe( Roth p353). Balance and proportion became important design elements. The new architectural style of the Renaissance first appeared in Florence at the Ospedale degli Innocent, as known as the Founding Hospital, designed by the archiect Filippo Brunelleschi.

Ospedale Degli Innocenti · Florence, Italy

 

 

• Circles, Stacks, and groves are still being used
• Balance and proportion -symmetry
• Corinthian columns appear

          Architecture of the Renaissance no longer had to be a massive vertical form which reached upward toward Heaven (Roth,p 353). Instead, the desire to produce massive structures was now being tested and  seen in the form of the dome.The largest dome built in the Renaissance was the dome located over the crossing of the Santa Maria della Fiore.

Santa Maria del fiore ( Duomo), Florence, Italy

 

 

 

 

•  Architects were still testing the  human limitations of architecture.
• Balance and Proportions- Asymmetry

• Grand scale of building  represent  importance.

      During the Renaissance, the circle was seen as the representation of  God's perfection.Therefore, circles were seen in some form in almost every building of the Renaissance. However, architecture was not the only aspects in which circles were seen.In fact, city planners even applied the circular form in plans of new cities. Antonio Averlino was the first Renaissance planner to use the ideal form of the circle in city plans ( Roth, p361).

Vincenzo Scamazzi, Palmanuouva. Italy

 

 

 

• Plan still consists of a Cardo and a Decumanus
• Strong center
•  Geometrically proportional shapes

Resources:

•  http://www.tslr.net/2007/07/functional-forts.html
• http://www.florencedesignacademy.com/duomo_eng.html
• http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/gbi.cgi/Ospedale_Degli_Innocenti.html/cid_2461905.gbi
• L.M Roth, Understanding Architecture 2nd ed, 2007