University of Bahrain
Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture
ARCG 221 - HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE II
Renaissance
Architecture
Dr. Abdurrahman Mohamed
Meaning
The revival of classical art, architecture, and literature,
started in Italy in the 14th century and later spread in
Europe.
It continued until the16th century, marking the transition
from medieval to modern times.
Mainly, it was based on humanistic philosophy and
values.
In architecture, development started in the 2nd decade of
the 15th century and continued until the end of the 16th
century.
Historical periods
Historical periods:
Early renaissance from 1420s to 1490s,
High renaissance from 1490s to 1520s
Late renaissance “ Mannerism” from 1520s
to 1580s
Historical conditions of each period will
discussed separately.
Historical developments
Dark ages was a period of deterioration in arts and
sciences and the domination of Gothic style.
The power of the church and the governments
prohibited all types of innovation and progress in
culture and science.
The architecture of the Greeks and Romans was
abandoned.
Italy took the lead in this awakening due to its
proximity to the origins of the classical architecture
and the associated sciences and arts.
Renaissance in Italy
In 1420, Venice, Florence and Rome were the main
powers in Italy
The Medici Family governed Florence in 1420 where they
cared for science and arts.
During renaissance, people struggled for excellence,
read old books, searched for old documents and
corrected mistakes of the middle ages.
New culture developed based on the writings of
Leonardo Bruni from Florence and his term “studia
huminitatis”- The study of humanities- human endeavors
without the effect of theology and metaphysics
Architecture was greatly affected by the writings of
Vitruvius on theories of form.
Renaissance
Italy between
1300 and 1360
[Link]
Humanism
“A system of values and beliefs that is based on
the idea that people are basically good and that
problems can be solved using reason instead of
religion”
([Link]
Depended on intellectual Greek and Roman
teachings,
Reaction to the utilitarian medieval education,
emphasizing practical, pre-professional and
scientific studies.
Aimed to create a citizenship culture with
a suitable space for women capable of
developing the civic life of the
community
It was a permanent cultural mode and
not the attitude of elites.
It did not mean to fight religion but to let
free society from some of its controls.
Renaissance architecture
The Pythagorean concepts of the Greek Pythagoras
were leading and gave value to the importance of
mathematics in architecture to create rhythms and
proportions.
Geometry was the science through which architects
created their building form
The perspective was a very important tool to recreate the
natural proportions of the universe in buildings and the
landscape.
The realization of architectural space was conceived as a
way for the service of religion.
Early renaissance
from 1420s to 1490s
Filippo Brunelleschi
(1377 –1446)
He was one of the foremost architects and engineers of
the Italian Renaissance. He designed Ospedale degli
Innocenti (1419-1445) which had a long loggia with 9
semi-circular arches which rarely had similar in Florence.
It had beautiful Corinthian columns. In the spandrels of
the arches there are glazed blue terracotta roundels with
reliefs of babies. He then designed the church of Santo
Spirito in 1436. The plan is a Latin cross with
perpendicular aisles and nave. It had Corinthian columns
and flat roof, and a dome at the intersection between the
nave and the perpendicular aisles. It was completed in
1446 after his death. He also designed the Dome of
Florence “Duomo di Firenze ' for Santa Maria del Fiore
cathedral (Florence Cathedral) in 1420.
Ospedale degli Innocenti (1419-1445)
Ospedale degli Innocenti- plan
In the spandrels of the arches there are glazed
blue terracotta roundels with reliefs of babies
Ospedale degli Innocenti- arches of the portico
Church of Santo Spirito 1435
Nave of the Santo Spirito
Dome of Santa Maria del Fiore
(Dome of Florence Cathedral)
1420
Dome of Florence Cathedral- detailed section
Lion Batista Alberti,
1472
He was born in Genoa and lived in
Venice and Florence. He was a writer,
philosopher and artist.
Architecture gave him great fame with
the numerous great buildings he
designed and the distinguished
contribution to the development of
renaissance architecture by the
translation of the book “Da
Architectura” of Vitruvius.
Among his famous buildings is the
church of Saint Andreas in Mnatua.
The church of Saint Andreas Mantwa
(1472- 1512)
Its plan is a Latin cross but differs from that of Santo Spirito of
Brunelleschi.
The west façade is magnificent with its square columns ending
with a huge semicircular arch and bounded with 3 floors of
windows, two windows in the ground floor are rectangular and
the others are semicircular like the Roman triumph arches.
Its interior had pilasters, semicircular arches, entablatures and
beautiful ornamentations.
Like Santo Spirito, there was a dome at the intersection of the
main nave and the perpendicular aisle.
Alberti was the first architect of early renaissance who used the
pilasters in the facades, a style greatly used in the Baroque era of
late renaissance.
Saint Andreas Mantua
Saint Andreas Mantua- main elevation
[Link]
Proportions in the façade of the porch, Saint Andrea
[Link]
Roman triumph arches
Ionic Entablature
Architectural features of Saint Andrea
Balance
Symmetry
Proportion
Richness
Roman inspirations: (triumph arch and
pediment)
Grandeur design
[Link]
Cosimo de' Medici palace by Michelozzo di
Bartolomeo 1445 - 1460
Cosimo de' Medici palace
[Link]
Cosimo de' Medici palace
[Link]
Medici Palace: First Floor Plan
(as originally built, with later changes cross-hatched) [Link]
Midici palace
Medici Palace: The inner court [Link]
Midici palace Main elevation [Link]
Midici palace- main elevation
[Link]
Midici palace- Architectural features
Three floors with tripartite elevation
Horizontal string courses of doors windows and
friezes
Decreasing height of stories
Rusticated stone in the ground floor and
smooth ashlar stone in the first and last floors
Large cornice strongly defines the sky line of
the palace
Midici palace- Architectural features
4 arches in the ground floor, 2 for
windows and 2 for doors. 4 groups of
simple rectangular windows, 2 groups
with 3 windows and tow groups with 2
windows. There is a difference between
the right and the left side windows.
17 semi-circular arches in the 1st and 2nd
floors each with double semi-circular
windows
Central court with Corinthian columns
and semi-circular arches
Palazzo Pitti
Date: started 1458
Owner: Luca Pitti,
from 1549 the Midici family
Architect: Brunelleschi
Pitti Palace- plan
[Link]
Pitti Palace- internal courtyard
[Link]
Palazzo Strozzi
(Filippo Strozzi),
by Benedetto da Maiano ,
1489
Strozzi Palace: Wooden Model made by Giuliano da Sangallo
[Link]
Strozzi Palace: First Floor Plan
[Link]
Strozzi Palace: Section
[Link]
Strozzi Palace: Courtyard
[Link]
Palaces of the early Renaissance- general
characteristics
They were built privately for rich families They
represent the new direction towards secular
architecture
They represent the competition between these
families
They were greatly similar in design and
architecture
They all were designed with street frontage and
a large internal courtyard accessible from the
street. The courtyard was surrounded with a
huge number of rooms.
All of them have 3 floors decreasing in heights
upwards
External facades were blank planes with little
decoration and no projections.
Floors were divided with friezes and a strong
cornice defined the sky line of the upper floor.
Rusticated stone was usually used in the
ground floor and ashlars in the upper floors with
the smoothest in the last floor.
Large semi-circular arches were used for doors
and windows in the ground floors
Double windows with smaller semi-circular
arches were used in the upper floors
Rectangular windows were only used in the
ground floor
High Renaissance
1490s - 1520s
New changes in Italy
The French king Charles VIII (ruled 1483–
1498) invaded Italy in 1494 and removed the
Medici family from power, marking the end of
the early renaissance and the beginning of
the high renaissance,
A new era in architecture began to
development in all Italy and abroad in
Europe.
Knowledge and development of science began
to spread and influenced the spread of
architectural innovations.
Genius architects like Bramante, Raphael,
Michelangelo and Sangallo brought significant
developments in architectural design and
construction.
New centres began to develop outside Florence
and Rome became a very important one.
Donato Bramante 1444- 1514
Painter and architect
Mainly worked in Rome
From his famous works:
1. Cancelleria Palace in Rome in 1489.
2. martyrdom for Saint Peter : Tempieto di
San pietro in Montorio, Rome 1500-1502
1. Cancelleria Palace 1489–1513
Bramante had some role in designing
and building the palace although some
believe he might had this role from a
distance and not directly.
The palace represented a strong mark of
the arrival of renaissance in Rome.
The large wedge-shape includes the
church of San Lorenzo in Damaso.
Cancelleria Palace: plan
Cancelleria Palace: Elevation
[Link]
Cancelleria Palace
[Link]
Cancelleria Palace: courtyard
[Link]
Cancelleria Palace:
Detail of window
between pilasters
Cancelleria Palace:
main characteristics
It is much larger than the Florentine palaces.
The large wedge-shape site incorporates the Church of San
Lorenzo in Damaso.
It has three floors.
Windows are further articulated by being set between pairs of
pilasters.
Rhythm and pattern of doors and windows are different from
Florentine palaces.
Rustication disappeared from the ground floor
The central door is emphasized with bigger jambs and relief
carving above it.
It indicates the renaissance preoccupation with mathematical
proportions.
High quality of detail.
2. Tempietto di San pietro in Montorio,
Rome 1500-1502
“The Tempietto in the cloister of San Pietro in Montorio
was built by Bramanate after 1502, on the commission
of the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand of Aragon and
Isabella of Castile. The emphasis here is on the
harmony of proportions, the simplicity of volumes
(cylinder, hemisphere) and the sobriety of the Doric
Order. The circular plan symbolizes divine perfection.
Inspired by ancient temples, the Tempietto is both a
homage to antiquity and a Christian memorial."
Mitchell Beazley. The World Atlas of Architecture. p276.
Classical inspirations
It has been mentioned before that renaissance
architects in their attempt to revive the classical
architecture of the Greeks and Romans went for
long journeys for the study and analysis of the
Greek and Roman architecture.
Bramante was among these genius architects who
was inspired with several circular buildings for the
design of the Tempieto of San Spirito.
These buildings include:
Temple of Tholos at Delphi, Greece, c. 390 B.C.
Temple of Vesta,” Tivoli, Italy, 1st century B.C.
Maritime Theater of Hadrian’s Villa, Tivoli, Italy,
118-125 A.D.
Temple of Tholos at Delphi, Greece, c. 390 B.C.
[Link]
Temple of Vesta, Tivoli, Italy, 1st century B.C.
[Link]
Maritime Theater at Hadrian’s Villa, Tivoli, Italy, 118-125 A.D.
[Link]
Maritime
Theater at
Hadrian’s Villa,
Tivoli, Italy, 118-
125 A.D.
[Link]
Tempietto
di San pietro
Plan of Church
& Cloister with
the Tempietto in
the middle of the
cloister
[Link]
Tempietto di San pietro
Main characteristics
Followed Alberti centralized
plan
Has very careful proportions
so that the ratio of width to
height in the ground floor is
repeated in the 1st floor.
Use of pagan Roman forms
and motifs proclaim the
importance of Saint Peter as
the founder of the Christian
church in Europe.
The recall of Roman
architecture at its purist re-
created and re-shaped form.
It is the 1st monument of
high renaissance
[Link]
Tempietto di San pietro: plan
[Link]
Stairway to Crypt Tempietto di San pietro : Section
[Link]
Tempietto di San pietro : Details of the Doric Frieze
[Link]
Tempieto di San pietro: Peristyle and coffers
3D modelling
for the study
of historical
architecture
Tempietto of San Pietro - Digital 3D Model
[Link]
Baptistery of Santa Maria presso San Satiro- Milan, Italy 1478
[Link]
Baptistery of Santa Maria presso San Satiro, Milan, Italy
[Link]
Trompe-l‘oeil in Santa Maria presso San Satiro by Bramante
[Link]
This photo illustrates the
drawing of Bramante
which reveals the truth
of the perspective in the
previous image
Trompe-l‘oeil in Santa Maria presso San Satiro
Trompe-l‘oeil
Bramante was the first to use the technique of
Tromp L’oeil in the history of art in the
transept of Santa Maria Presso which was cut
because of the road in order to provide visual
depth for the transept
Tromp L’oeil is used to 'deceive the eye with
perspective drawing to increase the depth of
the space
Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan, Italy
Choir by Bramante, begun 1492
Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan- Plan
(Bramante’s Choir outlined in red)
Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan: Longitudinal Section
Santa Maria delle Grazie: interior of Bramante’s Choir
Santa Maria delle Grazie:
Dome above Bramante’sChoir with light coming from the lantern
Vatican Palace, Cortile Del Belvedere, Rome began1503
Cortile Del Belvedere: plan
Cortile Del Belvedere: upper courtyard or Cortile Del Pigna with the Exedra
Characteristics of Cortile Del Belvedere
Urban signature
Sense of place / sense of space
Roman magnificence
Space extension / continuity / boundary
Golden proportions
Fine details
Fine facades
Rhythm
Symmetry / asymmetry
Prestige and grandeur
Triumph
Saint Peter’s Basilica
The old basilica of Saint Peters cathedral was
destroyed and the pope Julius II wanted to
reconstruct it as a burial place for his body.
In 1504, Bramante won the competition to redesign
the cathedral and surpassing the development of
pagan buildings. Work started in 1506.
Pope Julius II before his death in 1513
commissioned 3 architects to replace Bramante:
Giuliano de Sangallo, Giovani Giocondo and
Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino). By 1520 all
of them had died.
Architects of Saint Peter’s
Raphael Giuliano da Sangallo
Bramante plan for Saint Peter’s Basilica
Huge dome over the crypt of St. Peter’s burial. The dome was 41.5
m in diameter, the same size of the pantheon but raised higher
The plan was a huge Greek cross to be suitable as a martyr’s
shrine and congregational worship.
The space was composed of central cross- shaped nave and
transept with smaller crosses in the corners
The dome was to be raised on piers and pendentives.
The form composed of circles and squares, domes and vaults, and
hemispheres.
The centralized plan came short of space for congregational
services
Papal power was greatly influencing the design of the church
Wars and lack of funding also greatly affected the development of
the project.
The old building to be used during the construction of the new
design.
The original design of Bramante was an
example of classical proportions and rhythm. It
had a Greek-cross symmetrical plan with arms
ending with round corners. The intention was to
construct a dome which would end the
dominance of Florence cathedral dome
designed by Brunelleschi. Raphael increased
the number of bays to 5 so the plan became a
Latin cross.
Bramante’s plan Superimposed on the plan of Old St. Peter’s
Bramante’s design for the Dome of St. Peter’s compared to the dome of
Tempeitto San Spirito
Saint Peters cathedral - Plan of Raphael
None religious buildings of High Renaissance
House of Raphael, Rome, by Bramante, 1512
Characteristics of House of Raphael
Very influential design
Differences from early renaissance
palaces
Ground floor has rusticated stone with
windows/ doors
piano nobile: doric order columns and
projecting elements
Villa Madama, Rome, by Raphael,
1516
First Renaissance villa to be built outside Rome
It had a circular court around which formal gardens
were arranged
It was influenced by the design of Raphael house by
Bramante
It brought great changes to the formality of palaces
of early renaissance.
The clear differences between this villa and the
house of Raphael reflect the great development in
style, fashion, architects’ mood and building industry
in that period.
It paved the way for more important changes in the
following phase: Mannerism.
Villa Madama window detail
[Link]
Villa Madama plan
Villa Madama- Logia of the garden
Villa Madama plan drawn by Palladio
Palazzo Vidoni, Rome, by Raffaello Sanzio 1515
Huge building
Balance and harmony mingled with greatness and dignity
Tuscan double doric columns replaced the pilasters in the
first floor .
Special design for the rusticated stone in the ground floor
Sculptural facade and plan
Palazzo Vidoni
Detail of the facade [Link]