Brunelleschi's Design

During all of this Brunelleschi not only built the dome in the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral (what today is still the biggest dome in the world), but mechanical marvels of worker platforms and lifts that managed to carry workers and hundreds pounds of materials hundreds feet in the air over the course of 28 years with only a single death. This showed how Brunelleschi was a mastermind in architecture and how he revived it.

Persistence is key when it comes to building any kind of structure that is meant to a great one. In everything you do in life you must be persistent to accomplish it the right way and to their fullest capability.In 1418 the town leaders in Florence announced a huge problem they have been putting off for years. That problem was that there was an enormous hole in the top of their church. As time went on the winter rains and summer sun had washed over Santa Maria del Fiore’s high altar. Their building of the church begun in 1296 to show the status of Florence as It was later decided that the structure’s glory would be the largest dome on Earth, ensuring the church would be “more useful and beautiful, more powerful and honorable” than any other building ever built

Brunelleschi solved a problem that was huge in the year 1418 in Florence, Italy.  There was a cathedral that had begun to be built, that no one knew how to finish.  The top of the building was needing to be covered, but due to its octagonal shape, the height of the building (which was already built), and originality of the building no one had any idea how to go about completing the roof.  So a contest was put out to the city, many came forward with ideas on how to finish the building.  Two big worries of the leaders of the city were cost of materials and the weight of the roof.  Brunelleschi, came forward with a design that would alleviate much cost, compared to his competitors, and he was certain would not cave in.  Many discoveries were made

It took me awhile to find the right article, but after some research, I found “Brunelleschi’s Dome” in National Geographic. The first question that I looked to answer was the motivation that led to the discovery of the dome. To paraphrase what I learned from the quoted article of National Geographic, there was a hole that was the sore sight of the cathedral in Florence. The name was “Santa Maria”. In order to cover up this eyesore, the leaders of the Catholic Church held a competition in which 200 gold florins were offered to the winner that could best cover up the hole. After listening to many contestants, the Church finally chose Filipo Brunelleschi. He was a young and irate genius, but he promised that he could build an inner and outer dome-and eventually he did. There were several questions that had to be asked; among them were how to cover the whole and what techniques to use so that the dome would not collapse on itself. It was not a task that was done in a day or even a decade. From the time that Brunelleschi was little, he had tinkered around with gears and gadgets. Because of this tinkering around and his learning from being a gold smith and studying architecture, he used his knowledge of the past and came up with the idea of an inner and outer dome. It was supported by solid brick at the base and hoop ring support at the top.

The domes of heaven, also known as Hadrian’s Pantheon and Justinian’s Hagia Sophia, are two astounding massive works of art. They both have similarities such as having domes on top of the groundwork, both incorporating effective use of space, and both work with natural light. But, these structures differ in many ways as well.

Without his dome structure we would have struggled to build big and famous buildings in todays society including the Dome of Florence cathedral. The dome structure was different to other buildings during the Renaissance, the huge octagonal shape proved daunting to architects and engineers because they had seen nothing like it before. Some Italian architects were familiar with the dome shape as used on the Pantheon in Rome but that was built with concrete and they had lost the recipe for concrete in the dark ages. Brunelleschi came up with a solution though, there were two domes. The inner dome was made of sandstone and marble, then the outer dome was made with brick and mortar, each brick being fired to be perfectly fitted for the shape. The Duomo was a huge success and Brunelleschi was dubbed the chief architect affiliated with the Renaissance. The architecture that took place in the Renaissance period densely affected modern day construction and

An example of the Medici support to artists involves The Dome of Santa Maria del Fiore. The dome of the chapel was built so large that no architect knew how to complete the rooftop structure and was a humiliating point in Florentine history. A contest to see who could develop a solution to complete the dome was won by a Florentine engineer named Brunelleschi, who felt he had found the solution. With the successful completion of the chapel, support from Cosimo de Medici and the holy consecration performed by the Pope, a great structure was once again a source of pride to the Florentines and the

Brunelleschi’s dome is a work of art. Researching this topic, I learn some that he approached the problem with ingenuity and hard work. The problem they were facing at that time was how could they cover a hole 150 feet in diameter that already has its octagonal foundation. They were baffled. Therefore, with a 200 gold florin, they proposed an architectural contest. Winning it will be a “fame of eternal glory.” Many architects signed up. One of them was Filippo Brunelleschi. Whether his motivation was eternal glory or money it was difficult to detect. His motive was kept close in his heart as was his plans. His proposal was to build a “double-shell design” dome—an interior and exterior. It was a new, daring, and out-of-time. They were stunned. Yet knowing of his background as a genius they made him the supervision of the construction.

By the time the Scientific Revolution was ignited, the people began to lean towards more realistic views on life, and many would reject religious practices altogether. Attempting to compete with the rapid trends, the main church of Florence Italy, Florence Cathedral, hired modern architect, Filippo Brunelleschi, to build a dome over the church. I strongly believe this modernized architectural genius constructed the roofing to form a dome shape as a form of exemplification. Exemplification method frequently occurs when wanting to gain a higher position of power, because the Church was losing support of their “subjects”, they were willing to go to extremes to gain that power. Similarly to the Kings, the church found small ways to connect themselves

During the first half of the Early Renaissance Brunelleschi’s architecture incorporated classical influences. In Brunelleschi’s building, he incorporated a longitudinal/ basilica plan and also created a flat ceiling to give it a more human scale. The building includes classical references like coffers and arcade, while also including arcaded columns, which form the side aisles and shallow side chapels. The building was also mathematically designed in a geometric form. The building of San Lorenzo was a starting point, which later evolved when other architects like Alberti came along.

I choose this topic because reminds me when I was study Architecture and used to read all this kind of lecture. For years, the town fathers of Florence were worried about a hole in the roof of their cathedral, so they announced a contest for a new design dome. The two main competitors were Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi. They didn’t have a good relation. Brunelleschi say that he would build two domes, one nested inside the other, without elaborate and expensive scaffolding. He say that he would built the first 46 feet in stone, and then he would use lighter materials, like spugna or brick. They had technical problem , because he didn’t know about a “lifting mechanisms were capable of raising and maneuvering

A distinctive feature of Florence's skyline is the dome of the cathedral (Duomo), Santa Maria del Fiore. The building itself, located due north of the Piazza della Signoria, was begun by the sculptor Arnolfo di Cambio in 1296. Numerous local artists continued to work on it during the following century and a half. The painter Giotto designed its sturdy bell tower (campanile) in 1334. Yet, the massive octagonal cupola (1420-36) that truly dominates both the church and the city was the proud achievement of Filippo Brunelleschi, master architect and sculptor. Opposite the cathedral stands the Baptistery; the building dates from the 11th century but was believed by Florentines to be a surviving Roman monument when they commissioned for it a series

To the eyes of the modern person, mathematic may be considered as one of complicated courses, but to the eyes of people who lived during the era of medieval or even earlier era, mathematic was used as a technological tool to build or measure. In the past, most of paintings were very flat and unrealistic, whereas modern art is better realistic and stereoscopic. For instance, a typical painting from ancient Egypt displayed flat look which gives lifeless images. People tend to identify this painting with art before perspective. However, long before the Egyptians, people were making less stylized images but more realistic. During the Revolution era linear perspective by Brunelleschi had large influence on the use of mathematics. For example, the

Another canvas lay rolled up at the bottom of the time capsule. Once unrolled, a beautiful drawing on canvas of the Florence Cathedral’s dome was revealed. The dome was designed by Filippo Brunelleschi, drawn in 1420. This dome was the largest ever built in history in this era. Flippo Brunelleschi used new methods of hoisting stone and masonry technique to construct the dome (Fiero, 2011). The Florence Cathedral highly reflects the Architectural development of the early Renaissance period. It also reflects how devoted Rome was to their religion, and how religion influenced the Romans to build magnificent architecture for a place to worship.

Michelangelo's architectural fame lies chiefly in St Peter's Basilica in Rome. St Peter's was "the greatest creation of the Renaissance," and a great number of architects contributed their skills to it. But at its conclusion there was more of Michelangelo’s design than of any other architect. When he took over the project in 1546 Michelangelo integrated Bramante’s Greek-cross plan and redesigned the piers, the walls, and the dome, giving the lower weight-bearing members huge proportions and eliminating the encircling aisles from the chancel and identical transept arms. Michelangelo’s dome was a masterpiece of design using two masonry shells, one within the other and crowned by a massive lantern supported, as at Florence on ribs .For the exterior of the building, he designed a giant order which defines every external bay. The full lot is held together by a wide cornice which runs