Bio-Architecture by Senosiain Javier

Author:Senosiain, Javier [Senosiain, Javier]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2013-05-12T16:00:00+00:00

Figure 2.32 Structural system of Brunelleschi's dome (fifteenth century).

The renaissance and its Florentine dome

The great heights which Gothic architecture achieved suited the mysticism of the medieval period. However, during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the cultural and artistic movement of the Renaissance appeared in Italy. The Renaissance combined several of the technical and aesthetic achievements of the Middle Ages, but returned to the horizontal direction of architecture based on the dome. Renaissance humanism included such protagonists as Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Brunelleschi, Alberti and Bramante, among others.

Renaissance thinkers looked at nature in a different way. It ceased to be a simple revelation of God and became part of the universe with humans at the centre. The study of the human body became very important and this influenced decisions in design. It probably contributed to the reappearance of the church with a centralised floor plan; it may also have caused the obsession of Renaissance architects with the circle and sphere, as both were considered harmonious elements. Leonardo da Vinci used to say: ‘I always begin with a circular shape because it is more perfect than any other.’17

Aesthetically, the Renaissance was a reevaluation of the simple, rational shapes of Roman classicism beginning with a rigorous study of proportions based on geometric ratios. This study brought about achievements of admirable harmony in the development of a new kind of architecture made by humans, for humans. This made it possible for Renaissance architecture, unlike Gothic, to move on from the church to public and residential buildings. The ideal use of space gradually became less sacred and more human.

Renaissance architecture really began with the Florentine dome of Santa María de la Fiore and ended with the Roman dome of St Peter's Basilica, Vatican City, Rome. With the execution of the former, Brunelleschi was architecturally transforming Florence from a medieval town into the capital of the Renaissance period. The history of the erection of this dome is particularly important in understanding the creative soul that illuminated that period.

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