HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 2

RENAISSANCE
ARCHITECTURE
THE GOLDEN AGE
“La Rinascita” = REBIRTH

THE RENAISSANCE
THE RENAISSANCE

• First developed in Florence, Italy

• Recovery of Vitruvius’ ten books of Architecture

• The return to ancient models of Art, Architecture, and Literature

 De
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THE RENAISSANCE
Humanistic c
ultural an i s m
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RENAISSANCE
PRINCIPAL PHASES

1. Early Renaissance (ca. 1400–1500); also known as the Quattrocento

2. High Renaissance (ca.1500–1525)

3. Mannerism (ca. 1520–1600)

Three Leading
Renaissance Architects
FILIPPO BRUNELLESCHI
• the first great Renaissance
architect, was primarily a designer
of churches. His most famous work
is the octagonal brick dome of
Florence Basilica.

• One of the founding fathers of

the Renaissance.

• Developed the technique of

linear perspective.
LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI

• became the most influential

architectural theorist of the Early
Renaissance.

• Instructed on the adaptation of

ancient classical forms to modern
buildings.
 MICHELOZZO di
BARTOLOMEO
• was another architect under
patronage of the Medici family, his
most famous work being
the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, which
he was commissioned to design
for Cosimo de' Medici in 1444.
 COSIMO de MEDICI
• Founder of one of the main lines of
the Medici Family that ruled
Florence during much of the Italian
Renaissance

• Wealthiest man of his time

• Italian banker and politician

• Known as “father of his country”

COSIMO de MEDICI

• Great patron of learning, arts, and

architecture.

• He used his fortune to control the

Florentine political system and to
sponsor orators, poets, philosophers,
artists.
Renaissance Architecture
CHARACTERISTICS
CHARACTERISTICS

• Renaissance architects rejected the intricacy and verticality of

the Gothic style for the simplicity and balanced proportions
of classicism.

• Adapted distinguishing features of classical Roman architecture.

• Structures built was analyzed and reconstructed to serve new

purposes.
CHARACTERISTICS

• Style was no longer dependent on technical possibilities but was

based on aesthetic principles, on abstract concepts like symmetry
and proportion, and the use of the system of orders.

• Renaissance championed the style’s idea by studying

Romanesque Buildings.
EARLY RENAISSANCE
EARLY RENAISSANCE

• 16th Century

• Region – Italy, especially Florence

EARLY RENAISSANCE
• Rebuilding of Florence’s ancient cathedral became the defining
achievement of the Early Renaissance.
• Brunelleschi received the commission and looked to Ancient
Rome for inspiration.
EARLY RENAISSANCE

CENTRALIZED PLANS

• The plans of Renaissance buildings

have a square, symmetrical
appearance in which proportions
are usually based on a module.
Within a church, the module is
often the width of an aisle.

• The Early Renaissance saw the first

experiments with the neoplatonic
ideal of the centralized plan.
Bramante’s original plan for
St. Peter’s Basilica
EARLY RENAISSANCE

FACADE

• Façades are symmetrical around

their vertical axis.

• Church façades are generally

surmounted by a pediment and
organised by a system of pilasters,
arches and entablatures.

• The columns and windows show a

progression towards the centre.
EARLY RENAISSANCE

FACADE

• Domestic buildings are often

surmounted by a cornice.

• There is a regular repetition of

openings on each floor, and
the centrally placed door is
marked by a feature such as a
balcony, or rusticated surround.

PALAZZO RUCELLAI, FLORENCE by Leon Battista Alberti

EARLY RENAISSANCE

COLUMNS AND PILASTERS

• The Roman orders of columns are

used: Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian
and Composite.

• The orders can either be structural,

supporting an arcade or architrave,
or purely decorative, set against a
wall in the form of pilasters.
EARLY RENAISSANCE
COLUMNS AND PILASTERS

DORIC TUSCAN IONIC

CORINTHIAN COMPOSITE
 EXTERIOR OF SAGRESTIA
VECCHIA or OLD SACRISTY
Christian building in Florence, Italy

PILASTERS
EARLY RENAISSANCE

ARCHES
• Arches are semi-circular or (in the
Mannerist style) segmental.

• Arches are often used in arcades,

supported on piers or columns with
capitals.

• There may be a section of entablature

between the capital and the springing
of the arch. Alberti was one of the first
to use the arch on a monumental
scale at the St. Andrea in Mantua.
ARCADED COURTYARD OF
PALAZZO MEDICI RICCARDI
Florence, Italy
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE
BUILDING COMPONENTS FOR RENAISSANCE RELIGIOUS
ARCHITECTURE
VAULT

• Vaults do not have ribs.

• They are semi-circular or segmental and on a square plan,
unlike the Gothic vault which is frequently rectangular.
COFFERED VAULT
OF ST. ANDREA
Mantua, Italy
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE
BUILDING COMPONENTS FOR RENAISSANCE
RELIGIOUS ARCHITECTURE
DOME
• he plans of Renaissance buildings have
a square, symmetrical appearance in
which proportions are usually based on
a module. Within a church, the module
is often the width of an aisle.

Dome of St. Peter’s Basilica

RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE
BUILDING COMPONENTS FOR RENAISSANCE RELIGIOUS
ARCHITECTURE

CEILING
• Roofs are fitted
with flat or
coffered
ceilings.
• They are
frequently
painted or
decorated

Sistine chapel decorative coffered ceiling

RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE
BUILDING COMPONENTS FOR RENAISSANCE
RELIGIOUS ARCHITECTURE
WINDOWS

• Windows may be paired and

set within a semi-circular arch.
• They may have square lintels
and triangular or segmental
pediments

Façade details, Ospedale degli Innocenti

in Florence.
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE

The Tempietto
- designed by Donato
Bramante

- signifies a full-scale revival of

ancient Roman
commemorative architecture

- was constructed from

bearing masonry.

- circular temple supports a

classical entablature, and was
framed in the shadowy arch
of the cloister.
Renaissance Architecture
MOST IMPORTANT
RENAISSANCE ARTISTS
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE

Leonardo da Vinci
• Best known renaissance artist

• Famous for his masterworks “The Mona Lisa”

and “The Last Supper”

• Not only an artist, but also an inventor,

scientist, architect, engineer.

• Made the famous sketch the Vitruvian man

Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE

Michelangelo di
Lodovico Buonarroti

• An accomplished artist, poet,

architect, engineer.

• Best known work is a sculpture

known as “David”
Michelangelo
Michelangelo
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE

Raffaello Sanzio da
Urbino (Raphael)

• Known as the third of the great master

artists of Renaissance Italy.

• Famous works: “The School of Athens”

Raphael

The School of Athens ( between 1509-1511)

Raphael

The Deposition (1507)

RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE

Donato di Niccolò di
Betto Bardi (Donatello)

• Worked mainly as a sculptor

• Famous work: Saint Mark

Donatello
 Leonardo

Donatello

Michelangelo

Raphael
Renaissance Architecture
ARCHITECTS
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE
Filippo Brunelleschi
• 1377-April 15, 1446
• an Italian designer
• oldest amongst the founding
fathers of the Renaissance
architects
• recognized to be the first modern
engineer, planner and sole
construction supervisor
• developing a technique for linear
perspective in art and for building
the dome of the Florence
Cathedral.

Early Renaissance
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE
Ospedale degli Innocenti
'Hospital of the Innocents'

• 1419-1427 first phase supervise by Brunelleschi

• 1445 – formerly opened
• It was also the first building in Florence to make clear
reference—in its columns and capitals—to classical antiquity.
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE

PLAN
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE

ELEVATION
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE

TONDO
COLUMN
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE

TABERNACLE WINDOW
 RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE
Cattedrale di Santa
Maria del Fiore
"Cathedral of Saint Mary
of the Flowers“ or
Florence Cathedral
• Sept. 9, 1296 - 1436
• the main church of Florence,
Italy
• Il Duomo di Firenze, as it is
ordinarily called
• the largest brick dome ever
constructed
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE

Part of the lower

visible wood chain
inside the dome

The herringbone
brick pattern
inside the dome.
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE
Michelozzo di Bartolomeo
Michelozzi
• 1396 – October 7, 1472
• an Italian architect & sculptor
• Considered one of the great pioneers
of architecture during the
Renaissance
• Known primarily by non-historians for
designing Palazzo Medici Riccardi in
Florence
• "He remained for his biographers a
shadowy, active, competent, second-
rate figure, circling around the
glowing glory of the two dominant
masters."
Early Renaissance
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE
Palazzo Medici
Riccardi
• 1444 - 1484
• a Renaissance
palace located in
Florence, Italy. It is
the seat of the
Metropolitan City
of Florence.
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE

COURTYARD
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE

Palazzo medici
riccardi salone luca
giordano
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE

Medici Riccardi Chapel

RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE
San Marco

• 1437 - 1438
• one of Michelozzo's
first and most
influential
architectural
projects in Florence
• called the first
Renaissance church
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE
Donato di Pascuccio d'Antonio

• 1444 – March 11 1514

• an Italian architect

• Also known as Bramante Lazzari or

Donato Bramante

High Renaissance
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE

Cortile del Belvedere

"Belvedere Courtyard“

• 1506
• a major architectural
work of the High
Renaissance at the
Vatican Palace in Rome
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE

The Tempietto of San

Pietro
• 1502 – 1510
• a small commemorative
martyrium (tomb)
• considered a
masterpiece of High
Renaissance Italian
architecture
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE
Andrea Palladio
• 30 November 1508 – 19
August 1580
• an Italian painter &
architect
• widely considered to be
the most influential
individual in the history of
architecture
Mannerism
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE

I quattro libri
dell'architettura
"The Four Books of
Architecture “
• 1508–1580
• an Italian treatise on
architecture
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE
Villa Capra "La
Rotonda
"Villa La Rotonda
“
• 1508–1580
• proper name is Villa
Almerico Capra
Valmarana
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE
Michelangelo di
Lodovico Buonarroti
Simoni
• 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564
• an Italian sculptor, painter,
architect, poet, and engineer of
the High Renaissance who
exerted an unparalleled influence
on the development of Western
art.
• Considered to be the greatest
living artist during his lifetime, he
has since also been described as
one of the greatest artists of all
time
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE

Facade
Church of
San Lorenzo
in Florence
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE

Sagrestia Nuova
" New sacristy “
• a companion piece
to the Old Sacristy
of Brunelleschi and
Donatello , now part
of the museum
complex of the
Medici Chapels .
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE