EARLY RENAISSANCE

ARCHITECTURE
Renaissance- An Overview
RENAISSANCE- “REBIRTH” , A REVIVAL OF THE GREEK AND ROMAN CLASSICAL AGE

The Vitruvian man- humanism,

The spread of the Renaissance
movement
Renaissance- human proportions
•Early Renaissance
•High Renaissance
•Mannerist movement
Renaissance- An Overview
•Quattrocento/ Early Renaissance [1400-1500] – concepts of
architectural order explored and rules were formulated.

•High renaissance [1500-1525] - concepts derived from

classical antiquity were developed and used with greater
surety.

•Mannerism [1520-1600] – architects experimented with

architectural forms to emphasis solid and spatial relationships.

Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan

High Renaissance phase

Above: Piazza del Campidoglio, Mannerist Phase

Right: St. Peter’s memorial, Early Renaissance phase
Fillipo Brunelleschi
• Mechanical/ technical genius
Filippo Brunelleschi
• Devised scheme for constructing the Florence Cathedral along with required mechanical
devices, hoists, etc.

• Credited with developing linear perspective.

Dome interior view

Florence Cathedral and its iconic dome
 Fillipo Brunelleschi

Filippo Brunelleschi

•More balanced
View of side chapels, perspective recession proportions

• slightly higher nave

San Lorenzo, Florence
Main nave space
•More “robust”, three
dimensional use of
classical orders

•Harmony
•
Plan
Fillipo Brunelleschi

Filippo Brunelleschi

• Orphanage

• general “flatness” of classical detail

• drawn on pietra serena, grey

sandstone, on solid white plaster
Ospedale Degli Innocenti, Florence
background.

• Careful attention to proportion in three

dimensions.

• Example of new “civic spirit”

• Round arches/ classical profiles

• Regularity of plan
plan
 Fillipo Brunelleschi

Filippo Brunelleschi

• ideal, balanced
proportions in interior
space and exterior
massing

Interior view

Santo Spiriti, view

• aisles have a more solid feel. Classical details.

• continuous ambulatory of square bays

• façade was finished later. Curved volutes seen over aisles which
could have been Alberti’s influence.
 Leon Battista Albertini
• first theorist of the new “humanist” arts.

• wrote treatises on painting, sculpture and architecture.

Albertini
• example of the classical principle of
superimosition

• column used as ornamentation to define or

proportion wall surface.

Palazzo Rucellai, Florence

Visible columns used as

dividers of facade

Elevation
 Leon Battista Albertini
• used proto- Renaissance pattern
elements, parts of Gothic Facade
and classical Roman architectural
Albertini
vocabulary

• the structure fits within a perfect

square

Santa Maria Novella, Florence • more solidity, pilaster ends,

strong separation bands between
levels
• classical arches, columns and clear entablature

• use of “scrolls” to toe the elevational difference within the

structure together

scroll Perfect proportions of Santa Maria Novella

Architectural Elememts
•Plan-The plans of Renaissance buildings have a square, symmetrical, planned
appearance in which proportions are usually based on a module.

• Façade-Façades are symmetrical around their vertical axis. Church facades are generally
surmounted by a pediment and organized by a system of pilasters, arches and
entablatures. The columns and windows show a progression towards the center.

• Columns and Pilasters-Architects aimed to use columns, pilasters, and entablatures as

an integrated system.

• 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

• Vaults- Vaults do not have ribs. They are semi-circular or segmental and on a square
plan

• Domes- A very large structural feature that is visible from the exterior, and also as a
means of roofing smaller spaces where they are only visible internally.
Concluding Inferences

•Early Renaissance buildings displayed a certain sobriety (humble, inward looking) and
separation between the public (facade) and the private (interior, courtyard) elements
•The interplay between repetitive modules, now called for grouping and alternating of
the same elements.

•For instance, equidistant apertures in the facade were now grouped together
followed by alternating wide or narrow blank masonry strips.

•The apertures themselves assumed greater importance and were framed with
combinations of pilasters, architraves or arches, and/or triangular or rounded gables,
frequently, a combination of all permutations and combinations.

• The obvious distinguishing features of Classical Roman architecture were adopted by

Renaissance architects.

• The ancient orders were analysed and reconstructed to serve new purposes